Noah Puckerman May Have Involuntarily Left Lima
by Mouse-size-Dragon
Summary: …But That Doesn't Mean He Wants to Come Back. One day Puck doesn't show up for school, not too out of the ordinary. But when no one can reach him all week they start to wonder. How does someone like Noah Puckerman just disappear?
1. Noah Puckerman Used To Be A Part Of Glee

**Disclaimer: **None of Glee belongs to me; I've just got a lot of imagination and ADD.

**AN: **None of this is Betaed; I'm the only one who's edited it so sorry for any mistakes.

**Noah Puckerman May Have Involuntarily Left Lima**

**…But That Doesn't Mean He Wants to Come Back**

One day Puck doesn't show up for school, not too out of the ordinary. But when no one can reach him all week they start to wonder. How does someone like Noah Puckerman just disappear?

**Chapter 1: Noah Puckerman Used To Be A Part Of Glee**

"Has anyone seen Puck today?" Mr. Schuester's question garnered a few unenthusiastic shrugs and negative grunts.

"He'd better not have gotten himself sent back to that juvenile detention center. We really can't afford to be searching for someone to replace him, again, this late in the game." Rachel lectured her imaginary audience.

"I tried calling his cell, it said something about the service provider turning it off. I think he might not have paid the bill again," Finn shared.

"Well, I'm sure he'll be here tomorrow, he might just be taking another 'day off,'" their teacher reassured the mostly uncaring Glee club members who'd already come to that conclusion and the club moved on. Little did they know that as they started that week's lesson Noah Puckerman was hours away ending his first day at his new school.

* * *

><p>"Noah Puckerman, right?" One of the boys whose names he hadn't bothered to learn from his science class called after him down the hall. "You used to be a part of the Glee Club at your old school, which did remarkably well considering the circumstances and obstacles the group faced."<p>

"Is there a point somewhere in there? 'Cause if you really did all your research you should have known to send a chick after me, not some dweeb." Puck was in a very bad mood. His own mother had kicked him out of the house and the only relative that was willing to take him in just had to live in _this_ school district, and she had actual rules about hair and things.

"Well, we understand that the Glee Club at your old school wasn't very popular but I wanted to tell you that that isn't the case here at-"

"Are you trying to tell me joining you will help me make friends or some shit?"

"Yes, it could help you to become popular, and-"

"Look, I don't care if everyone at this shitty school worships the fucking ground you walk on." Here he crowded the slimmer boy up against the lockers and gave him the most hateful glare he could while slamming his fist into the locker next to his head. "I'm not joining one of those gay ass clubs and singing fruity songs with a bunch of fairies again. If anyone from your group comes near me again I'll show them everything I ever learned about dishing out a beat down in fight club. Got it?"

"Uh, yes!" Squeaked out the terrified student. As Puck turned and stalked off towards the exit the stupid 'Glee Club Welcome Committee' member didn't move until he was out of sight.

* * *

><p>"I take it he said no," the coach remarked as the student who'd approached Puck darted into practice alone.<p>

"It was more of a hateful 'I'll kill you if you try to ask me' than a simple no," he reported to his teacher.

"Well, I do so enjoy poaching New Directions talent and Noah Puckerman has that 'badboy persona' stage presence. His singing _and_ dancing skills have the potential to be up to par. We can't give up so easily." Pressing a button that caused a buzzer to sound throughout the entire auditorium the teacher called all the practicing students' attention to him. "Everyone, I want you to watch and if possible befriend Noah Puckerman. He's a new transfer student from McKinley High, yes another one, he was a member of New Directions since the year they started but he seems to dislike the idea of joining our Glee club. Don't mention your participation in this club if he allows you close."

"What are we looking for?" One of the students called out.

"Anything I can use to, _convince_, him that it is in his best interests to join us."

* * *

><p><strong>AN:<strong> More Puck for the win! Started writing it like June, 2011, but hells yeah it's done.

Now I've got another story up should I a) alternate publishing a chapter from each story approximately every other week (Werewolf this week, Involuntarily the next) or should I b) publish the rest of this only after Being a Werewolf is completely up? It costs more than I really want to pay in a week to upload more than one chapter but I've put up the first chapter of this story and anyone who wants can tell me how their vote goes. Thanks.

Read and Review because I've got all my stories on my computer already, I don't need to post them. But if someone likes one of my stories then I will post the rest of it for them.


	2. Noah Puckerman Doesn't Live Here Anymore

**Disclaimer: **None of Glee belongs to me; I've just got a lot of imagination and ADD.

**AN: **None of this is Betaed; I'm the only one who's edited it so sorry for any mistakes.

Noah Puckerman May Have Involuntarily Left Lima

…But That Doesn't Mean He Wants to Come Back

One day Puck doesn't show up for school, not too out of the ordinary. But when no one can reach him all week they start to wonder. How does someone like Noah Puckerman just disappear?

Chapter 2: Noah Puckerman Doesn't Live Here Anymore

"Okay, this is getting out of hand. Everyone listen-up! Noah hasn't been to school at all this week, as it is now Friday and has apparently been a week since anyone has seen or heard from him. I propose we head over to his house to find out what happened to him. As co-captain of New Directions I've made note of everyone's residences in case of such an emergency as this and I have Noah's address right here." Rachel addressed the rest of the club, all of whom were at least slightly worried about where Puck could be by now since it was looking very likely that he was back in juvie, if he was just missing his probation officer would have been looking for him by now.

"Can you really see him letting any of us in if we show-up on his doorstep?" Kurt countered.

"I've devised a list of who would be the best candidates to send. I believe that aside from myself as a fellow Jew and leader one of his extracurricular activities the best people to send would be Artie and Mike. Noah has Glee, football, and friendship in common with both of them and he's had no recent altercations with either of them."

"I vote we send the two of them without you, if he is sick or something we don't want to make him worse," Santana called from her seat near the back of the room. After everyone agreed Rachel huffily handed over the address and the two boys promised to head over right after Glee.

Artie's dad drove them over to the Puckerman house, a small rather rundown place in the poorest part of town, and promised to wait for them to check-up on Puck. Mike rang the doorbell and they waited patiently as they heard thumping and then someone running toward them. A girl of around thirteen or so with curly brown hair and big sad brown eyes stared out at them.

"He's not coming back," she whispered hurriedly. "She sent him away. I can't-"

"Hannah, who's at the door?" Yelled a woman's voice that sounded closer with each beat.

"Some older boys Ma," Hannah yelled back. Her mother turned the corner and took in Artie and Mike with the edges of her mouth pinched down into a frown. Both the Puckerman women's eyes were red rimmed from crying, Hannah's nose was still red.

"Who are you? What do you want?" She demanded as she stepped protectively in front of her daughter and took hold of the door.

"We're looking for Puck, um, Noah, Ma'am. We came by to check if he's all right. We're in Football and Glee with him and he hasn't been at school all week so we're worried about him," Artie told her. At the mention of Glee Hannah, who'd been peering around her mother, gasped soundlessly and tears gathered in her eyes again.

"No one by that name lives here. I have no son," she spat out. "I don't want to see any of you Glee people here again, keep your _faggot_ singing club away from my family." She slammed the door in their faces and left them to puzzle out what had happened to Puck and what his sister had been trying to tell them.

* * *

><p>"How was your day Noah?" The woman sitting across the kitchen table from Puck looked way too young to be his guardian, she was only 29, but she was his father's younger sister and the only relative still acknowledging him. He would have said she was hot, objectively speaking and all, if she didn't remind him of himself so much it was creepy. Their eyes were the same color, their noses the same shape, their skin the same color, they were almost the same height, and they freaking acted the same sometimes! That gesture he made when impatient? Yeah, Aunt Naomi did the same thing. She was like an older female version of him with boobs instead of guns. His Ma always, used to say, he took after his father's side of the family and now Puck could really see what she must have been seeing all these years.<p>

"Oh, fine." He ran his hand along where his mohawk used to be. One of her rules had been getting a fresh start by cutting his hair and going by either Noah or his middle name Aaron instead of Puck and he didn't think he could pull off Aaron, ever. "Most of my classes seem like they won't be too hard to get caught up in, even though they're mostly all harder than the sh-stuff at McKinley."

"Did something else happen? You seemed on edge when you got home." It wasn't her fault their conversations were so awkward, until last Friday evening they'd never even met. His dad had left her name and phone number on the back of a family picture from before he'd left Puck's mom. When Puck found it years ago he'd hidden it under his bed with all the other mementos of his dad he'd kept. Out of curiosity he'd called and talked to her a few times over the years. She'd been the only person he could think to call who might have been able to help him out of the mess he was in that night so he'd tried. Thankfully she was willing to take in her screw-up nephew when the rest of their family shunned him.

"One of the boys in the Glee Club tried to ask me to join," honesty was the least he owed her.

"Oh, well it's okay if you're not ready but it might help you make friends or take your mind off of, things," she tentatively offered.

"Yeah, look at how well that worked out last time; I lost my friends, my rep, my family, and a place to live." He shoved the homemade pasta around his plate. "Besides, they're kinda our arch enemies. I'd be betraying the few people left in Lima who might care about me if I joined."

"That's very loyal of you. I'd like to sign you up for some guitar and singing lessons outside of school if you'd like, or dancing if you'd prefer," she smiled at him. She was trying her best to connect with him, he even appreciated it, she really seemed to care about him, but he just wasn't ready to open up too much to a stranger, which she still was regardless of their shared DNA.

"I, um, I don't want to be a burden or anything. You're already paying for my food and everything. I meant to start looking for an afterschool job of some sort," he protested.

"No, no, I want to do this. I wish I was a part of your life when you were born but I was a twelve year old who didn't want to spend time with little children, your grandparents kicked me out of the family less than six years later and when my brother left your mother she _really_ didn't want anything to do with me. Think of this as all the birthdays and Chanukahs I missed. We'll get your cell phone added to my plan so you can call when you want to go out or anything, and I'm sure you'd like to talk to your friends again," she was very serious about them being family, probably because she'd been cut off from them for so long. "I have unlimited texting so you'll be able to chat with your friends as much as you want."

"Your parents kicked you out too?" This was something he hadn't heard before, although he had wondered why his aunt was never mentioned. "Nana kicked you out of the family? But, I thought she always wanted a daughter."

"She did," Naomi looked only a little sad, as if she'd resigned herself to the situation years ago but she still missed her parents sometimes. "It turned out I wasn't the daughter she wanted. I'll tell you the story if you can tell me something first."

"Sure, what?"

"Can you tell me what would cause our family to reject someone? What made your mother kick _you_ out?" He wanted to know about her, it had to be as bad as- him, but he wasn't really ready for her to hate him too.

"Can I take a rain check?"

"It's fine, when you're ready I'll be here ready to share back. In the meantime if you really want to do something to help around here you could make some of the meals. I'll teach you how to cook," she grinned at him. Clearly she'd noticed his cluelessness in the kitchen, she already insisted that they each do their own laundry (which he totally got because they were basically grow-up roommates or something and he didn't want her washing his boxers), and decided that was the next chore he'd have to do. Actually he didn't mind the laundry or the cooking things because he'd need to know how to do those things when he had to move out on his own. Naomi was kind of seriously cool and he didn't mind doing what she asked him to because he could tell she cared about him.

"Fine, I'll start with small stuff like clearing the dishes." As he spoke he started on the task since they'd both finished eating while they talked.

"Sure but you've still got to start on your homework after that, trust me, when you're on your own you're thankful for as much education as you can get. I'd like to help you through college but I'm still paying off my own student loans so any scholarships you get will be helpful." That was another thing he liked about his aunt; she wasn't just fronting, she talked like it was a given that he'd get into college, that he was smart enough to get a degree, because she believed it was, she believed he was good enough.

* * *

><p>"Gather 'round everyone. I've found the perfect way to put New Directions in such a deep funk they won't even have the heart to practice their scales." All the students in the auditorium crowded around their coach. On the table in front of him a pile of small digital cameras sat. "Now in addition to watching and trying to befriend Noah Puckerman I would like you to each take a camera and take candid photos of him whenever you can. He must not know about these photographs. I want them to be of anything he does from studying or reading a book to getting on the bus, eating his lunch, or working out in the gym. Anyone who gets a picture of him looking happy or like he's having fun gets extra-credit."<p>

"So you'd like the entire club to stalk him?" Someone clarified.

"Yes, but don't be obvious about it. Don't follow him somewhere you normally wouldn't go. My source tells me that New Directions has no idea where he disappeared to and the entire club is worrying themselves sick about it. They're now short a member. When they start receiving pictures of their missing member doing fine they'll fall apart."

"We're using the him, without his knowledge, to wage psychological warfare on his own friends?" A short girl in the back of the crowd asked.

"Exactly, you're fitting right in. Don't forget your cameras everyone. Dismissed!"

* * *

><p><strong>AN:<strong> Almost everyone who's reviewed has said to go with what is cheapest...that would actually be waiting a year or so until I get back to the US and uploading everything at a café or someplace with free WiFi. No, I won't be that mean. I've decided to catch this fic up and then alternate uploading a chapter for each story, averaging one chapter per week. This means it would actually be a chapter every other week if you only care about one of the two stories. Sorry but it seems the fairest, nicest overall, way to go. Usually I'll be updating on the weekends, many people were sick around here including me this last week so I couldn't get into town.

Internet cookies for anyone who can guess a) what town Puck now lives in, b) which Glee club he now goes to school with, or c) who any of the un-named characters in the third part are (yes they have all appeared on the show; the coach and student(s) with speaking parts).

Read and Review because I've got all my stories on my computer already, I don't need to post them. But if someone likes one of my stories then I will post the rest of it for them.


	3. Noah Puckerman Has Nothing Here To Lose

**Disclaimer: **None of Glee belongs to me; I've just got a lot of imagination and free time (and ADD).

**AN: **None of this is Betaed; I'm the only one who's edited it so sorry for any mistakes.

Noah Puckerman May Have Involuntarily Left Lima

…But That Doesn't Mean He Wants to Come Back

One day Puck doesn't show up for school, not too out of the ordinary. But when no one can reach him all week they head to his house to find some shocking things. How does someone like Noah Puckerman just disappear?

Chapter 3: Noah Puckerman Has Nothing Here To Lose

Monday after school everyone gathered in the choir room to worry about what Artie and Mike had found at Puck's house and discuss their plan of action. Puck had disappeared: his school records had been pulled, he no longer attended McKinley, his mother claimed not to have a son, his phone was off, he hadn't been on Facebook (not that he usually was), and no one had seen him since heading home after school that Friday over a week ago. Without Puck they only had eleven members, Rachel, Tina, Mercedes, Quinn, Santana, Brittany, Kurt, Finn, Mike, Artie, and Sam, but only Rachel cared about that part the most. Everyone else in the club had human emotions and was worried about their teammate.

"Excuse me, you're the Glee Club, right?" Hannah, as only a few of them knew, darted into the room and closed the door quickly behind her. "I'm Hannah, Noah was my brother."

"What do you mean he _was_ your brother, what happened to him?" Mercedes asked.

"He's gone, and he's not coming back. Ma got rid of him! She was yelling at him about singing and dancing and sin and contaminating us. While we were at school she put all his stuff in trash bags and she stuck them out on the curb and wouldn't let Noah come in the house." By now her tears were back and spilling down her cheeks. "He was sitting out there for hours, I watched through the window because Ma wouldn't let me outside when he was still there. A stranger, some lady, came by when it was getting dark and she took Noah and all his stuff. She gave Ma some papers before they left. When I asked Ma what they were for she said they were to make sure we never had to see Noah again. I said I was going to a friend's house so I could come tell you guys, Glee was the reason she got rid of him. You have to find him, please. I can't, his room's just empty, she didn't let me keep our pictures, he's just gone, and I don't know what to do."

Kurt pulled out a handkerchief and helped the sobbing girl into a nearby chair. Some of the girls tried to help comfort her but everyone was lost in their own reaction. Confusion as to why Mrs. Puckerman had chosen to kick Puck out swarmed through the thoughts of the New Directions members. Had she only just now found out about Glee? Who had come to pick up Puck after his mother forced him out of their home? Where had the unknown woman taken him and why?

"Hey Brittany, why don't you take Hannah to go get cleaned up in one of the nearby bathrooms. Rachel can help make sure you don't get lost," although they looked confused Rachel and Brittany both did what Kurt asked. Once they'd gotten Hannah out of the room Kurt turned back to the rest of the team. "Based on what Mrs. Puckerman said to Artie and Mike and what Hannah just described I think Noah's mother might have sent him to one of those reform camps where religious parents send their gay children to be turned straight again." He held up his hand to stop the protestations and puzzled comments.

"I know Puck is most certainly not gay, Quinn's pregnancy last year very clearly disproves the idea. But if Mrs. Puckerman thought that the singing and dancing of Glee would either make him gay or contaminate him with homosexual tendencies she might have irrationally decided to send him away to be fixed or to make sure that didn't happen." The thought of Noah Puckerman at an anti-gay reform camp made Kurt smirk; he'd be a model prisoner, getting grossed out by the idea of gay sex, punching any boy who even looked like they might flirt with him, attempting to sleep with every female he saw. If Noah Puckerman had been sent to one of those brainwashing facilities he'd be 'fixed' and free in no time.

"I guess I see your point, she did call Glee a faggot singing club to our faces," Artie awkwardly admitted.

"Fine, that might be part of it, but I think it goes further. If she was sending him off to get fixed or something why would she tell Hannah that she was signing papers to make sure they never had to see him again," protested Quinn.

"Something is wack in that house, what kind of mother would just get rid of her son like that," burst out Mercedes.

"More importantly where the hell did she send Puck?" Santana demanded looking more pissed off than anyone in the room had ever seen her before. "We will find him and we will get him back."

* * *

><p>Noah opened the oven and took out the casserole he'd been assigned to cook when he got home. He heard Naomi's keys jingling as she unlocked the door and he rushed to sweep his papers off the table and into his backpack. The table was half set by the time she walked into the room, flipping through the mail.<p>

"You know there's a desk in your room, kid," she commented without looking up. Blushing faintly in embarrassment he finished placing the dishes on the table.

"I didn't want to burn your casserole," he admitted.

"So you waited in the kitchen. That's almost adorable," she ruffled her hand teasingly across the fuzz covering his head, two weeks and he had a quarter inch across his whole head. They'd slowly gotten used to each other, living together and sharing a bathroom sort of sped-up that process; you couldn't really stay strangers once you knew what type of shampoo, or deodorant, the other person used.

"I added you to my plan after work today," she tossed him a new iPhone. "I'm on a different provider than your old one so you've got a new number and everything but you can copy your numbers over and text people your new info."

"Why would you trust me? You know I'm a punk, you know I've got a record. Why do you just give me stuff like this?" Noah was confused; no one had ever trusted him like this before, he could steal or break everything in Naomi's apartment easily while she was out. His own mother had barely trusted him not to burn down the house while watching his sister after school; she'd always hired their neighbor to look in on them.

"If I don't trust you then who should? I know you're a good person. You didn't go out and steal things when you mom kicked you out, you asked for my help. You tried to take care of Quinn and Beth last year. Besides you've got to give someone a chance to prove themselves before they can." She frowned at a large manila envelope at the bottom of the day's mail. "I was just like you at your age, without the getting someone pregnant or being on the football team."

They shared a laugh as they sat down to dinner. As always she asked about his day, he told her about the Glee Club's attempts to stalk him, he'd caught at least five of them peeking at him around a corner with a camera in hand, it was getting creepy, and she told him about something funny one of her co-workers had done. Once they were finished she put the leftovers in the fridge and motioned for him to sit back down when he finished putting the dirty dishes in the dishwasher.

"Noah, when I picked you up I asked your mother to sign over temporary guardianship rights to me so I could get you medical help and enroll you in school without going through her." Sighing she turned to boil water for tea and fiddled with the envelope she'd left on the counter.

"Yeah, I figured you'd need to do something so they'd let me go to school here. What happened?" A prickle of unease ran up his spine. What if Ma wasn't letting him stay here, what if she didn't want to let him live with Aunt Naomi either? Did she want him on the streets? Did she really hate him that much now?

"She's given up all parental rights; she signed you over to me completely." Now she was tearing the flap into little pieces.

"What, like, exactly, does that mean?"

"Legally? You're officially adopted. You're legally my son now, if that's alright with you?" It looked like she thought he might explode, in anger or sadness he didn't know. Taking a deep breath he thought it out; his Ma hated him now, he already knew she didn't want him back, was it so bad to have a new family in his cool Aunt.

"Do I need to call you Mom now?"

"No way, I'd feel old and I don't want to replace your real mother, regardless of what happened you should keep your good memories of her. Keep it to Naomi or Aunt Naomi," she cracked a small smile at him.

"Does this mean we need to change my last name to yours? Why do you have a different last name anyway?" He wasn't sure about getting rid of the Puckerman half of his name; yes, he'd mostly ditched the 'Puck the badass' attitude but he wouldn't be Puck at all without the last name Puckerman.

"I legally changed it a few years after my parents kicked me out, before I finished law school. It's my way of slapping them in the face with the truth every time we meet. A person named Mackenzie was part of the reason they tossed me out, now that I'm Naomi Mackenzie instead of Naomi Puckerman they can't really ask me to come back, repent, and change who I am like they tried before. You don't have to change your name to anything you don't want to, but if you do I'll help you to change it to whatever you want, except something clichéd like a Harry Potter character."

"As if, I'd at least go for something dope like X-men. Let me think about it, it could be fun to go back to Lima and introduce myself as Noah Mackenzie or something to see people's reactions but I don't think I'm ready to lose who I am all at once." He didn't want to insult Naomi or her choices but it was hard to even consider giving up such an important part of who he was.

"It's fine, I spent years deciding to change my name. And I'd want you to know the whole story behind it before you took my name anyway. I, we, just got the finalized papers in the mail so I felt I should tell you, you're more than old enough to have a say in these kinds of things." Pulling the papers out and placing them on the table in front of him she grabbed the boiling water off the stove and poured them both a cup of tea. "That's our copy of everything. You should try this new raspberry tea I found."

Stirring plenty of milk and sugar into his drink, one thing he and Naomi definitely didn't share was their taste in beverages he couldn't stand drinking this stuff plain and she rarely ever drunk coffee at all, he flipped through the pages. She was a lawyer so she probably understood all the legal junk; he just wanted to see his Ma's signature, to make it real. Sure, she'd yelled at him, thrown him and all his stuff out into the street, but her signature here was final. He really was never going back home. These papers announced to the world that Naomi Mackenzie was now his only family.

* * *

><p>"Well, Mr. Puckerman do you know why I requested your presence here after school?" The teacher asked, smugly tapping a stack of papers on his desk.<p>

"I'm gonna take a wild guess and say it has something to do with the way your Glee Club members have been stalking me since I started going here," Noah sneered at the man.

"Yes, that and your _interesting_ record, criminal record I should clarify."

"I did my community service, my probation's over, my records are sealed, _and_ we're in a different state. You can't threaten me with that."

"Ah, very good," he clapped mockingly, "you aren't quite as dumb as your prior grades would suggest. You're right I can't threaten you with being sent back since your probation is over, I can however accidentally leak this information to everyone here at-"

"So what?"

"It would make settling in quite, difficult, if everyone was avoiding you, don't you think?"

"I don't care."

"Surely you'd like some friends. You were quite the ladies man in Lima, it would be hard to find a girlfriend here if they all thought you were a criminal," he folded his arms across his chest and relaxed slightly in a way that said he knew he'd won. Noah just grinned darkly back.

"Didn't you know? I was the McKinley Man-Whore; if I wanted to sleep with some chick here I'd already be doing it. I have nothing here to lose. There is nothing you can do to make me join your version of Homo Explosion."

"Are you sure? I can wield a lot of influence, not just around here, you could have whatever you wanted," he offered.

"You have nothing I want. Excuse me _sir_, I've got to catch a bus in less than five minutes." Noah stood and left before the Glee Club coach could say anything else.

"Interesting, Mr. Puckerman, you certainly seem to have changed from what my reports stated. Too bad, even if this isn't my gain it's still a New Directions loss."

* * *

><p><strong>AN:<strong> Usually I'll be updating on the weekends, every weekend, but stuff happens over here in Africa, sorry.

Internet cookies for anyone who can guess any of these: a) why Puck's mom hates him, b) why their family hates Puck's aunt, c) what town Puck now lives in, d) which Glee club he now goes to school with, and/or e) who the coach is and what team he's coaching.

Read and Review because I've got all my stories on my computer already, I don't need to post them. But if someone likes one of my stories then I will post the rest of it for them.


	4. Noah Puckerman Might Be Responsible

**Disclaimer: **None of Glee belongs to me; I've just got a lot of imagination and free time (and ADD).

**AN: **None of this is Betaed; I'm the only one who's edited it so sorry for any mistakes.

**Noah Puckerman May Have Involuntarily Left Lima**

**…But That Doesn't Mean He Wants to Come Back**

One day Puck doesn't show up for school, not too out of the ordinary. But when no one can reach him all week they start to wonder. How does someone like Noah Puckerman just disappear?

**Chapter 4: Noah Puckerman Might Be A Responsible Adult**

Two weeks after Noah Puckerman disappeared from Lima, driven off into the sunset by a mystery woman, the members of New Directions started getting emails. Friday morning Mr. Schuester received an email from 'wehavepuckerman' at gmail that contained photographs of Puck sitting at various desks and taking notes, or reading, which on its own was disturbing. Aside from the ex-McKinley student all the other students and teachers had their faces blurred irreversibly, there was no way to identify anyone else in the pictures or tell where they were taken. The pictures got progressively weirder throughout the day.

Rachel received a photograph of Puck getting something out of a locker in a crowded hallway, with everyone but him still unidentifiable.

Tina and Mercedes got a few pictures of him measuring some sort of science experiment and taking notes.

Artie was sent photos of Puck in a classroom doing math from the problems on the board.

Kurt's photos included Puck smirking at something an anonymous boy said and sitting under a tree eating his lunch.

Mike and Sam were sent photos of Puck playing soccer and dodge ball in a PE class.

Quinn, Santana, and Brittany were emailed pictures of him getting on a bus, staring out a classroom window daydreaming, and checking a cookbook out of a library.

Finn was the most creeped out when his email held a series of pictures that clearly showed each day passing by, not only from the changing clothes but also from the slowly growing hair. Like it was showing him his best friend, whom he'd still been avoiding sometimes before he disappeared because of the Quinn/Rachel cheating thing, was moving on without him.

The mysterious photographer had managed to take a picture of Puck each day for the last week and a half without him noticing. They each went home to stew in misery and collect more emails every day. By Monday the entire club was depressed and frustrated at their continued inability to decipher where Puck was. Another email was sent to them all at once that afternoon. It read:

'Noah Puckerman is becoming quite at home here. You could say he's blossoming, much more so than he ever did when he was with you. We can't wait to watch you fail; he'll be on stage laughing with us when we eventually defeat you in competition. We'll keep sending you updates, just so you know what you've lost.'

Along with this message there was a photograph of Puck leaning against a brick wall; just as he was straightening and smiling at someone off to the side the observer had snapped the shot. None of them could remember ever seeing Puck look so relaxed or happy before. It was like he was content for the first time; an invisible bond they hadn't even known was there had slipped away.

* * *

><p>"Noah I found someone who will give you voice lessons, help you practice dancing and guitar, and even train you on the piano if you'd like!" Noah looked up from the English paper he'd been typing for the last half hour, 'The Grapes of Wrath' wasn't actually too bad when he actually sat down and looked for the hidden meanings and stuff, well, at least he hadn't fallen asleep before he got through it.<p>

"What's the catch?"

"Oh you, you're such a pessimist. There's no real catch, she's just a bit bored after quitting her high paced job to take care of her baby daughter. She'll give you lessons after school whichever afternoons you want in exchange for a few nights of babysitting." That couldn't be all, even though Noah still had almost no clue how to take care of a baby outside of all the books he'd read when Quinn had gotten pregnant he hadn't even gotten to hold Beth for more than an instant, and Naomi was grinning at him with that 'I know something you don't' look.

"Alright, I'll bite. Who is she and why would she trust me with her baby?"

"Not just her baby, _your_ baby. That Vocal Adrenalin coach who retired and adopted Beth lives close enough that you could take a bus to her house after school instead of coming home. She's willing to let you be a part of Beth's life, she says she doesn't want you having the same regrets she has with Rachel. She's been giving a few voice lessons to keep busy so when I found her she offered to let you come over anytime. And she said she'll train you to be better than any student she's ever taught if you want."

"In exchange for watching my own daughter? Is she for real?" Not that he wouldn't love to see Beth but this deal seemed really one sided to him. Maybe it was another one of Naomi's little ways of getting him to be a responsible adult. Show him the continuing consequences of his mistakes or something. Of course he actually sort of liked those things, she had more rules than his Ma (that wasn't saying much because she'd had like none) but she explained each one and all of them were because she cared what happened to him. Like he didn't have a curfew but if he was going to be out after one in the morning he was supposed to text her so she knew he wasn't dead in a ditch somewhere, he didn't even have to tell her where he was or anything just let her know he was alive.

"Yes, for real. Ms. Corcoran saw you at the hospital and she told me she could tell you wanted to be a part of Beth's life. I'm fine with you spending every afternoon, and even all of your weekends over there if you want, as long as you keep up in your classes. It's a good thing; you'll get to know your daughter and you'll stay in practice for when you decide you want to perform again or join another glee club. Here's her business card, call her whenever you feel ready," handing him the small rectangle of cardstock his aunt waltzed out of his room and back into the kitchen where she'd left the takeout she brought home.

"There's Chinese food in here when you're done," she called out. "I got everything you said you liked."

"You looked her up on purpose didn't you," he demanded as he grabbed a container of orange chicken a few minutes later.

"Of course." His aunt smiled at him over the table. "Anything for you, my favorite, only, nephew." And they laughed because they both knew she was only half joking and he sort of secretly liked that she cared about him enough to find Beth for him.

* * *

><p>"My source at McKinley High tells me that the entire Glee club is so depressed and confused that they aren't even holding tryouts for a new twelfth member. Excellent work everyone. Who was it that got the picture of him smiling?" The coach addressed his Glee Club after school Thursday of the third week Puckerman had been going to their school.<p>

"M-me," the short girl who'd made the comment about psychological warfare held up her hand.

"Good, you've got a solo at Nationals. That's exactly the kind of thing that will crush their spirits. Where did you take it though? I told you not to follow him places you wouldn't normally go and that wasn't taken on campus." He frowned at the whole group; especially those six who'd had their cameras taken and pictures erased by the person they were supposed to be _secretly_ watching. "Puckerman is aware of our following him, he told me so himself."

"He lives in the building next to mine. We take the same bus home when I'm not staying late for practice and we get off at the same stop. I don't think he's ever noticed me though," she reassured her teacher.

"Perfect, you might make better progress befriending him. You're excused from afterschool practice from now on. But," he spoke over the jealous groans, "You still have to come to morning, during school, and weekend practices and if you aren't making any progress with the kid you'll have to join us again."

"What should I do?" She asked, bewildered.

"Just sit next to him on the bus or something. I don't know, I don't make friends," he sneered as he turned and motioned for the students to start practicing again.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: <strong>Usually I'll be updating on the weekends, but I can't wait any longer (blame it on JasonDragon64).

I had stopped doing this but I'm gonna give a little shout out to two of the most awesome reviewers who've been having PM conversations with me. Thank you JasonDragon64 and Chersti for your great messages. Also thanks to LillyFrost, Broken Lollipop, and the anonymous reviewer for your comments too, and the 3 people who've faved and 15 who're watching this fic.

**Read and Review** because I've got all my stories on my computer already, I don't need to post them. But if someone likes one of my stories then I will post the rest of it for them.


	5. Noah Puckerman Is Not Coming Back

**Disclaimer: **None of Glee belongs to me; I've just got a lot of imagination and ADD.

**AN: **None of this is Betaed; I'm the only one who's edited it so sorry for any mistakes.

**Noah Puckerman May Have Involuntarily Left Lima**

…**But That Doesn't Mean He Wants to Come Back**

One day Puck doesn't show up for school, not too out of the ordinary. But when no one can reach him all week they start to wonder. How does someone like Noah Puckerman just disappear?

**Chapter 5: Noah Puckerman Is Not Planning On Coming Back**

"Hello?" Santana answered her phone when they were supposed to be holding practice, but since they'd started receiving the emails a week ago no one had really felt up for much singing, besides Rachel.

"Hey Santana, it's me N-, Puck."

"Seriously, Puck?" Santana yelled at the phone sparking everyone's attention. "You up and leave and join some other Glee club and now you have the nerve to just call me after three weeks! What you wanna fuck the enemy now? Newsflash asshole, you're not nearly hot enough to make me forget you switching sides on us!"

"What the hell? I didn't join some other club. My mom kicked me out!"

"Right, we know that. But how do you explain the emails with all those pictures of you then? And you're totally going on speaker phone now." True to her word Santana put Puck on speaker and the entire club, including Mr. Schue, gathered around the piano to hear what their missing member had to say.

"Okay, hey everyone. Uh, I don't know anything about any emails but I've caught six of the Glee club members here following me around with cameras. They keep trying to recruit me, the coach even tried to blackmail _and_ bribe me into joining, at the same freaking time."

"I'm pretty sure that's illegal," Rachel said as Mr. Schue looked uncomfortable, no doubt recalling how he'd originally gotten Finn to join New Directions.

"Whatever, I told him I didn't give a damn and I wasn't joining them."

"That's good and all, but what happened? Where are you? And why did it take you three freaking weeks to call?" Santana demanded before anyone could think of a way to more delicately ask Puck why he was missing.

"Friday three weeks ago when I got home from school Ma had all my stuff out front and she wouldn't let me back in the house. I called my Aunt Naomi and she's letting me live with her. My phone died that night and since Ma didn't pack the charger I can't turn it on even to get anyone's numbers or anything. Naomi got me a new phone and added me to her plan so this is my new number, I only remembered yours and Finn's home for sure but since he moved, yeah, sorry."

"Why did you get kicked out?" Finn asked his old friend. "I mean, after all the stuff you've done…" He made a confused face when he thought of all the things Puck had done in just the last year and a half. Even with Kurt's speculations most of them still couldn't wrap their minds around the 'why now' question.

"I haven't even told my aunt yet. She got disowned by Nana and the rest of the family too so she had to do something just as bad but, it's kinda fresh. Y'know?" There were a few moments of silence as everyone contemplated what Puck could have done that was worse than getting his best friend's girlfriend pregnant or trying to steal an ATM and going to juvie for it. Mercedes was right, aside from mass murder or something, Puck's mother had to be crazy messed-up to suddenly get rid of him now.

"So where are you now? Which club has been sending us pictures of you?" Rachel demanded.

"Probably Vocal Adrenalin, I'm at their school now. You can visit me when you want to spy on them."

"You moved to Carmel, Indiana?" Mercedes questioned him.

"What?" Screeched Rachel.

"So is Puck like Jesse now?" Brittany asked into the ringing silence following Rachel's outburst.

"Man, I wish I was planning on coming back like that."

"What do you mean you're not planning on coming back, how are we supposed to find another member on such short notice? Nationals are only a few months away!" Rachel looked like she was falling into a full-blown panic attack, or perhaps a diva temper tantrum.

"Dude, I thought you'd already be looking. Aunt Naomi sent a letter to the school when she asked for my records and stuff. I sort of have to stay here, even if I hate it, she's my only family now and she's paying for my education and shit. But I don't, hate it here, I mean. She's really, uh, living with her works, she's like an older, girl-version of me, and I like it here. It's like a second chance or something. Sure, I miss Hannah, and you guys, but I'm kind of glad I don't have to deal with the rest of Lima anymore."

"Who are you and what have you done with the Neanderthal we know as Puck," Kurt joked, sort of. Most of the rest of the boys were stuck on the idea of a female Puck; was she just as obsessed with sex as he was or what?

"Well, one of my aunt's rules about starting over was a new haircut and a going by my actual name, so I guess I'm not Puck so much anymore." No one had anything to say to that and there was quiet as the club absorbed all the changes that had happened to him in the last three weeks. "So, Santana can give everyone my new number and if each of you texts me your number I'll save them so we can talk or get together some time. And if one of you, like Finn who she knows, could check on Hannah and give her my number that'd be totally awesome. I called because just hanging out with my aunt or Miss. Corcoran gets boring."

"Are you sleeping with my mother?" Rachel shrieked at the phone.

"Ew, no, she's giving me singing lessons and junk in exchange for babysitting. It was Naomi's idea, 'cause I wouldn't join another Glee club."

"She's trusting you with her children?" Mercedes sounded skeptical.

"She has more than me?" Rachel asked in a small voice.

"Not really. She adopted, Beth." He sounded subdued, like he was pretty sure they wouldn't like that answer but he felt he had to tell them anyway.

"Oh," Quinn gasped quietly.

"Yeah, I'm spending a few afternoons over there each week as long as I stay caught up in my classes. That's really the only time I get out of the house since I'm not joining the football team or anything over here either."

"Why not, man? We'd get to see you at the games and stuff, if we both make it that far," protested Finn.

"Uh, cause I'd be rooting for you at those games? Besides I never liked football, I only joined because my best friend wanted us to be on the high school team together."

"Right, I forgot," Finn replied awkwardly. This was news to everyone else, although Puck had been the first to give up football for Glee that first year (aside from Kurt but nobody really thought of him as a football player, he was a Gleek first and foremost. Puck had been the one to tell Mike and Matt they should stay in Glee with him, he'd made them go back first for appearances sake, only they knew that though).

"Well, it's my night to make dinner so, I sort of have to go. But it'd be cool if you guys could text me updates or whatever."

"Now that you're not a member of the team we can't reveal any of our plans to you in case you leak our numbers to the opposition," Rachel haughtily told him, she seemed upset that he knew her mother better than she did now.

"Chill Berry, I meant like the weekly lessons or who's going with who, which I know Santana's gonna tell me whether I want to know or not. I'm just seriously bored, I don't think I'd mind texts about fashion stuff from Aretha and Hummel. Honestly, Brittany could write me about her cat and I'd probably read it. I've got nothing to do here but school and avoid the Vocal Adrenalin kids, I've got A's in _every single class_," he semi-whispered the last part in mock horror.

"I never get A's in any class," exclaimed Brittany.

"I'm, sorry?" It sounded like he didn't know how he should respond to that, but then neither did any of the rest of them. They heard a clatter and some odd noises in the background. "Okay, I really do have to go, it's really hard to read a cookbook and cook food while on the phone. Just text me whenever, bye whoever's still there." There was a chorus of goodbyes and then he hung-up.

"Well, who wants his number?" Santana read it out and each Gleek dutifully copied it into their phone and texted him a short message saying who they were so he had all their numbers too.

* * *

><p>"Naomi, I'm bored. It's a Saturday night and all I'm doing is sitting at home with my adoptive parent figure thing watching movies we've seen before," complained Noah as he pulled a packet of microwave popcorn out of the cupboard.<p>

"Noah you've been here for a month."

"Yeah?"

"You haven't made any friends, you haven't joined any clubs or activities, you've done all your work, done everything I've asked, and this is the first time you've really complained."

"Yeah, so?" He shifted under her stare.

"Even if you killed someone back in Lima I'm not going to abandon you, ever. I'll even represent you in court, or find someone with more experience to do it." Grabbing the popcorn she shoved it back into the box. Gently pushing her nephew into one of the kitchen chairs she sat down across from him. "Now I know your Nana believes that being homosexual is a terrible sin but what's _your_ opinion?"

"Um, what?" He looked confused by the sudden topic change.

"What do you think of gay people," she demanded, keeping eye contact and refusing to let him avoid answering her.

"Oh, uh, one of the guys in Glee is gay. He joined the football team for a while when coach Tanaka was still around," he offered.

"But how do you feel about people being gay? Do you dislike that boy because he chooses to like other boys," she needled him.

"No! Kurt didn't choose to like guys, he just does. If a boyfriend makes him happy then he should be able to have one. It's not okay to hate people for that kind of thing," he glared reproachfully at his Aunt. "I might have been a douche and a badass but I wasn't an outright asshole, most of the time, I made fun of people for being losers not for being gay."

"Good. I think instead of a movie tonight I'll tell you the story of when your grandparents kicked me out of the family and then maybe we'll go do something fun," she was smiling at him like he'd just told her he was graduating valedictorian or something.

"Seriously? But I still haven't told you about why Ma threw me out," he said, recalling the conversation they'd had the first week he'd moved in.

"I just wanted to be sure before I told you. One day near the end of my senior year my dad came home from work early, he was feeling sick. He walked in on Mackenzie, a friend I'd been dating for three months, and me making out on the couch. It wouldn't have been such a big deal if Mackenzie weren't a girl too. Your Nana was very clear to me about what an unnatural sin it was to do those kinds of things with other girls. When I essentially refused to break-up with my girlfriend and repent they kicked me out, there was a lot more yelling and cursing but that's the gist of it. I moved in with a friend for the last month of school and headed off to college on scholarships and loans and turned out perfectly happy and successful." He looked thoughtful and very grateful that she'd told him her story first.

"So, you're like, a lesbian," he confirmed.

"Yep, boobies turn me on and boys do nothing for me," she smirked at his stunned expression when she used such crude language; she'd been on him about not cursing as much. "So, now that you know my big bad family rejection worthy crime are you ready to tell me yours or do you just want to go find whichever bar my friends are performing at and try to catch the rest of their gig? A good friend of mine from college started a band, they play locally on weekends since they're still undiscovered and they've all got day jobs."

"I think I need to tell you incase I never get around to it again." They sat in silence for a minute while he gathered his thoughts and eventually started talking with his gaze fixed firmly on the tabletop.

"I'm not like you, I'm not gay or anything but I wasn't _just_ thinking about girls and it's confusing. Ma was snooping in my room and she went on my computer, it wasn't anything really bad or anything, just some sites that explained what thinking about both means and stuff like that. I was just trying to figure it out, y'know without making a big deal or telling people or anything, it wasn't like I had gay porn on there or anything. She flipped, said the whole Glee club thing had infected me, turned me into a sinful faggot, she already had all my stuff in trash bags and out on the street when I got home from school. She wouldn't even let me in the house, she didn't let me say goodbye to Hannah. I left for school that morning and never even stepped back in my, _her_ house." Clenching his fists on the table he pressed them down, watched his knuckles turn white, and took another shaky breath.

"I thought if I ever told her she'd at least tell me it was the devil giving me those kinds of thoughts and to ignore them or something, I thought she'd want to _help_ me. She just threw me out. Put my stuff and me in the gutter like trash, like I was completely broken. Like I can't be fixed. I didn't get a chance to explain or anything, damn it." Slamming his fists into the table he slumped over to rest his forehead on them. "Maybe it was just one too many things I did wrong but, parents are supposed to love you, no matter what, right? Why couldn't she keep loving me? Why am I never good enough?"

Naomi quietly moved her chair around the table so she could rub slow circles on Puck's back while he fought off the tears trying to gather in his eyes. A few moments of deep breathing later he straightened up and turned to his aunt. They both ignored the few tears that had escaped and made their way down his cheeks.

"There's nothing wrong with you. After your father left your mother was stuck working and trying to raise two children, one of which was a boy, something she knew nothing about having been a girl herself. You and Hannah had to do a lot of the raising yourselves. I think perhaps she feels that she made a mistake; she doesn't know you well and when she found something that seemed to point to what she believes is wrong she felt that she'd already lost you but she might still have a chance to save Hannah."

"What to raise her to be a homophobic bitch?" He spat out sarcastically, his grief turning to anger.

"No, it's moral for her. I'm sure she pities you and me, she probably cried about losing her son, but she wanted to save at least one of her children. The problem lies with her. She's not a big enough person to look past her own bias to see the wonderful son she's always had is still there. You are good enough; don't ever think this was your fault. Your mother still loves you, she washed what little hair you had every week, but she feels like she's lost you. Many people think being bisexual, gay, or anything but completely straight dooms you to a life of immoral sin and your soul to hell, and things like that. Some even think that we make a choice to like the 'wrong' gender."

"Why would I choose to have weird feelings for other guys and get tossed out of the house," he asked darkly.

"You wouldn't. Those people don't understand how confusing, how isolated, it feels to think you're not supposed to feel or think what you do. They can't comprehend how much you want to be just like the rest of your friends; how hard it is to go to Temple and pray for God to erase these feelings and then when he doesn't to learn to deal with them. But no matter what, whether you're straight, bisexual, or just curious you'll always be welcome in my home. Wherever I am you're welcome to crash no matter how old you are or who you like," she reassured him. "Feel free to ignore everyone else's opinions and take however long you need to figure out who you are."

"Thanks, do you think we could just watch a movie tonight? Maybe we could save seeing your friend's band for another night, when I'm not so, tired."

"Sure, whatever you want. Maybe if you promise to behave I'll show you how much fun you can have at a gay nightclub someday." Giving him a playful look she took the popcorn back out of the box and headed for the microwave.

"Living with you is a serious learning thing," he halfheartedly grumbled.

"It's called an experience, Noah, possibly with an added bit of culture and education. I know you aren't as dumb as you pretend to be, I've seen your standardized test scores."

"Dude! That's totally not fair. Besides how do you know I didn't force some nerd to take those tests for me like I told everyone else at McKinley," he demanded.

"Because you're acing your classes without any tutoring or even interaction with any of the other students." Pouring the finished popcorn into a large bowl she led the way to the living room. "Face it kid, you can't fool me."

* * *

><p>"Hey, uh, I remember you from when I tried out for New Directions," the small girl sitting next to Noah on the bus offered.<p>

"Isn't your club trying to _secretly_ stalk and recruit me?" He turned to that short girl Rachel had sent to a crack house earlier that year, what's her name, Rainbow, or something.

"I've been given permission to become friends with you, in the hopes of convincing you to join us and dishearten your old club," she told him. Glancing around like she wanted to make sure they wouldn't be overheard she whispered her next comment to him. "We've been taking pictures of you and our coach is sending them anonymously to your friends. You should call and tell them you haven't joined us, his source at McKinley says they're too depressed to hold tryouts for a twelfth member."

"Why are you telling me this?" He watched her suspiciously, purposefully not telling her that he'd already called the Glee club a week ago and that if they were depressed now it was because they couldn't find another member not because they didn't know where he was, not that they really cared where he was beyond the fact that he'd been their necessary twelfth member. He'd be surprised if any of them still thought about him; he'd picked on more than half of them at some point, actually he'd probably made fun of all of them before, and the few who might have been his friends once upon a time he'd already betrayed and destroyed their friendships.

"Well, it's just so, _mean_. I love singing but the kinds of things Vocal Adrenalin does are just too much. I would rather win based on my amazing talent, not on how much I sabotaged the other team," the girl explained.

"So…, you want to be friends with me for real and help me un-sabotage my old team?"

"I'd like that, but you need to pretend you don't know I'm in Vocal Adrenalin and supposed to be tricking you. So, hi, I'm Sunshine Corazon it's nice to meet you." Holding her hand out to shake she looked at him expectantly.

"I'm Noah Puckerman, nice to meet you too," he shook her hand after a moment of internal debate. "I like singing, playing my guitar, black coffee, and video games. What about you?"

"I love to sing, I don't play an instrument, I drink my coffee black too, and I've never played any video games. I used to play foot-, um, soccer when I lived in the Philippines," Sunshine offered.

"Awesome, soccer's one of my favorite sports, it makes so much more sense than all the tackling in football. Seriously it's like the people who made football never heard of alternatives; the two sides just smash into each other until somebody falls," he complained. She smiled at his observation.

"I agree. I don't see the point to American football. Almost every other sport makes more sense, except baseball, that's _really_ confusing." They shared a laugh as the bus reached their stop and they both moved to get up at the same time.

"Well, I've got homework and it's my night to make dinner so, I guess I'll see you at school tomorrow," he waved to her as they split up to head to their separate buildings.

"Right, see you at school." Sunshine watched as he took the stairs to the door of the building two at a time and hurried away.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:<strong> Remember that this about halfway through season 2, therefore Santana hasn't admitted her lesbianism to anyone, even herself, yet. Also I promised JasonDragon64 that I'd post an extra chapter when he posted the next chapter of his story, I'm a week late but the extra chapter of this story is going up either later today or tomorrow.


	6. Noah Puckerman Just Isn't Expecting Much

**Disclaimer: **None of Glee belongs to me; I've just got a lot of imagination and ADD.

**AN: **None of this is Betaed; I'm the only one who's edited it so sorry for any mistakes.

**Noah Puckerman May Have Involuntarily Left Lima**

…**But That Doesn't Mean He Wants to Come Back**

One day Puck doesn't show up for school, not too out of the ordinary. But when no one can reach him all week they start to wonder. How does someone like Noah Puckerman just disappear?

**Chapter 6: Noah Puckerman Just Isn't Expecting Much**

"Principal Figgins says he gave the letter Puck's aunt sent the school to his secretary to copy for all the teachers who needed it and apparently both the football team's copy and my copy disappeared before we received them. I suspect Sue; she's been smirking at me a lot more for no reason recently," Mr. Schuester explained to the eleven remaining members of New Directions. "Now I know it's not ideal but we can't get Puck back so we need to find a new member. I need everyone out there recruiting, remember how hard it was to get new members at the beginning of the year, now it'll be even harder because the school year's already halfway over. But since we've just won Regionals maybe the assurance of a trip to New York will lure in more people than before."

"This sucks," called out Santana. "If we hadn't lost Puck we could have used him to threaten some nerds into joining."

"If we hadn't lost him we wouldn't _need_ another member," muttered Kurt.

"Guys think of this as an opportunity to welcome some fresh talent into the club," Mr. Schue told them excitedly. Everyone groaned and pasted insincere smiles on their faces as they gathered their stuff to leave. Someone abruptly cleared their throat and everyone turned to the doorway.

"So, I heard from my boy Puck that you need another member again. I've already worked out the details of the terms of my re-joining your group with him so, here I am, a part of this group for as long as you need," Lauren announced as she stepped into the room.

"Well, there you have it, we've already got our twelfth member," Mr. Schue greeted her with his usual terrifyingly over-the-top enthusiasm. "Welcome back to New Directions Lauren! We're glad to have you."

"Whatever, according to our agreement I'm here for however long you guys need me, even into next year if necessary, so this had better be good. I won't tolerate being on a losing team, even if I'm being bribed," she huffed out as she grabbed one of the empty seats. Everyone gaped at her and wondered just what Puck had given her to convince her to stay in New Directions indefinitely. Maybe he'd agreed to be her sex slave, or dress-up like Edward Cullen, or something. With her, and him, who knew? Their strange relationship had lasted only the month that Kurt was away at Dalton and she'd abruptly 'broken it off' with him when she quit the club the day after Regionals, a few weeks after Karofsky randomly apologized, begged for forgiveness, and for Kurt to come back (literally begged, in front of half the club, Figgins, and Burt he got on his knees and begged Kurt to come back to McKinley and forgive him, and he was going to anger management therapy). Yet they'd been seen talking in the hallways as recently as the week Puck disappeared, so strange.

"Well? Are we just going stand here or are you going to tell me where to stand and what to sing?"

* * *

><p>"Hey Shelby," Noah called out as he let himself into her house. After a few weeks of coming by Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday afternoons she'd told him where her spare key was hidden so he wouldn't have to keep ringing the doorbell.<p>

"Noah, I was just about to feed Beth," she walked in holding Beth and a bottle of formula. Once he quickly placed his bag next to his shoes by the door she handed him his daughter and her bottle. Cooing adorations and assurances that she was the cutest baby ever at Beth he followed his daughter's adoptive mother back into the living room. Sitting on a comfy blue couch he carefully fed Beth.

"You're getting to be an expert at that, actually at everything. You make a pretty good dad," Shelby told him as she neatened up the room, picking up dropped toys and such. He smiled down at Beth, Shelby grabbed a camera off the mantle and snapped a quick picture of the father daughter pair.

"What are you even going to do with all those pictures of me?" He commented, clearly she hadn't been as stealthy as she'd thought.

"The real question is what are you going to do with them. I'm going to save a few copies of the best ones for Beth when she grows-up but these are mostly for you," Miss. Corcoran explained as she set the camera down.

"Then can I have one of just Beth? Like smallish so I can fit it in my wallet," as he asked Beth finished drinking and he grabbed a cloth to burp her over his shoulder. At her 'aww' look he made a face. "Hey, I've got one of Hannah, my sister, in there and one of Naomi, it's like carrying around my family. You could give me a picture of you holding Beth or something, since you're her mom and that sort of makes you family too."

"Of course," she smiled at him and took some of the toys she'd gathered into another room.

"Don't worry," he told Beth quietly, "I won't let you end up like Rachel, obsessed with Broadway and being adored. With Quinn and me as your parents you're bound to be self-centered, but I'll try to help you out. Just remember, whatever it is, it's not worth it if you lose your friends."

"Would you like to put her down for her nap?" Looking up Noah saw she'd returned with a baby monitor, the other he knew sat in Beth's room by her crib.

"Are you going to be recording me again, because I have never been more embarrassed than when you sent that video to my aunt," he half seriously glared at her as he headed off to Beth's room. "She posted it on her Facebook."

"But it's just the sweetest thing ever, you singing Beth her song, I had to get it on film at least once," she rationalized. "Don't worry, I've already got it so there's no need for me to record you singing her to sleep again."

"I hope you don't turn out as manipulative as her," he told Beth as he started rocking her to sleep. Beth's song, the one he'd sung to Quinn and the one he sang to his daughter every time he visited her, trailed softly out through the baby monitor. After he'd gone through the song twice and Beth was sound asleep he came back out to where Shelby was waiting in the living room.

"So, what's on the agenda for today? More 'expanding my vocal range' stuff?" He asked as he stepped through the doorway.

"No, I'd like you to keep up with those exercises and I'll ask to hear them again on Thursday, but today we're going to work on the guitar. You're very good at it, I can tell you enjoy just fiddling around, possibly making up a melody or two, but we're going to expand that. I'd like your technical musical skills to be so good you'll be setting music to everything you read. You'll be writing songs in your sleep," she told him as he got his guitar out of its case. He'd started leaving it at her house when he visited over the weekend, taking it home again each Thursday night, so he wouldn't have to cart it around on the bus all week.

"Cool, but, do I have to write them down?" Looking anxious he held his guitar strap like it was a lifeline.

"Noah, I've had a suspicion for a while now. Do you not know how to read music?" She asked kindly as she pulled some sheet music off of a bookshelf.

"I can sort of sing it, I might recognize what we did in Glee, but I never really played the guitar with music. I just listened to a song and figured it out, no one ever bothered to teach me," he explained defensively.

"Well, congratulations, not many people have that talent. Since you already started learning to read music for singing parts in Glee it'll be easier. You're a quick study; we'll have you reading music in no time. With your ear for music I'm sure you don't even need to really know how to read music, it's just easier if you can," she assured him as they sat down and she started to show him what the notes he'd been playing for years looked like written in ink.

* * *

><p>"I've made progress in uh, befriending Noah Puckerman. Monday we sat next to each other on the bus and I started talking to him. Every day since then we've eaten lunch together and he invited me to a soccer game Saturday afternoon a week from this next one. I said I'd ask my mom," Sunshine reported to her coach.<p>

"Good work, I'll let you out of practice early then," he told her.

"Also, he doesn't go home on the same bus Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday so I can come back to afterschool practice then," she admitted.

"Excellent, I'll see you after school today then," he dismissed her and turned back to his computer screen which had another anonymous e-mail on it. Sunshine quickly left her coach's office and headed down the halls toward her locker.

"So, how'd your report go," Noah asked as she turned the corner. Jumping in surprise she almost fell over at his sudden appearance.

"You scared me. I just told him we ate lunch together and asked to leave practice early that Saturday for the soccer game," she assured him. Pulling a recording device out of her backpack's front pocket she handed it to him. "I decided to record every time I report to him so you know you can trust me. You can listen if you want."

"Nah," he tossed it back to her, "I'm taking some advice and trusting you. Besides, even if they were talking to me no one in New Directions would tell me any Glee plans now that I'm not one of them."

"You still haven't contacted them yet?" She looked worried.

"It's fine, I sent them a replacement and if they wanted to contact me they've got my number. I'm just not expecting much, I've always been a jerk and a bully, and I don't think any of them really consider me a friend." Shrugging he tried to look uncaring about how he'd alienated the people he'd grown-up with.

"You're not that bad," she protested.

"It's okay, I've come to terms with the fact that I was a big asshole to everyone. I've just got to be a better person this time around," waving away her concern he headed off to his next class. "See you at lunch."

"Bye," she called out after his retreating back, once he was out of sight she continued softly to herself, "just because you weren't the nicest person then doesn't mean you have to stay lonely now."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: <strong>There you go, an extra chapter.

Now, just so you know, Puck got kicked out in early January about a week into the second semester of the school year, Regionals was right before winter break. Also Sunshine has the amazing Noah Puckerman's influence to pull her out of the Vocal Adrenalin brainwashing so she's not stuck-up this time around, most of the first half of season 2 events are normal but Kurt came back to McKinley in time for Regionals, not Nationals, and the reason(s) for Karofsky's strange behavior will be revealed (I think it's even hinted at in the next chapter…I should really go re-read these things before I post them).

**Read** and **Review** because I've got all my stories on my computer already, I don't need to post them if I'm not getting any feedback.


	7. Noah Puckerman Never Had Anyone Care

**Disclaimer: **None of Glee belongs to me; I've just got a lot of imagination and ADD.

**AN: **None of this is Betaed; I'm the only one who's edited it so sorry for any mistakes.

**Noah Puckerman May Have Involuntarily Left Lima**

…**But That Doesn't Mean He Wants to Come Back**

One day Puck doesn't show up for school, not too out of the ordinary. But when no one can reach him all week they start to wonder. How does someone like Noah Puckerman just disappear?

**Chapter 7: Noah Puckerman Never Had Anyone Care Enough**

Glee practice had just ended and the members of New Directions were slowly gathering their things together. Rachel was complaining to anyone who would listen about how now that Lauren was taking Puck's place in the choreography the ratio of boys to girls was too unbalanced, just like she had when Kurt was the one who left. Not to mention the complaints she had about losing Puck's voice; Lauren tried to sing as little as possible and it ticked Rachel off when people just mouthed along. They were feeling the loss more significantly than before; the boys missed Puck because he always had his guitar and was up for an impromptu jam session, (some of) the girls missed the eye candy, everyone noticed that many of the bullies who used to stop at a slushie facial were getting bolder and more violent towards everyone in the club.

"I feel like one of us should call or text Puck," Kurt admitted to Mercedes and Artie as they walked, and rolled, out the door.

"What, why?" Mercedes asked as they headed to her locker.

"Well he's been gone for over a month and a half and I think nobody's bothered contacting him aside from that first phone call and sending him our numbers." He casually leaned against Mercedes's open locker door as she grabbed the books she needed to do her homework. "Seriously, think about it, no one's mentioned him other than in an abstract way for the last three weeks."

"That's true, at football practice Finn was trying to explain a play and he mumbled 'Puck would've got this already' and that's the first time I heard him mention him in weeks," Artie confirmed.

"Exactly, no updates on how Finn's old best friend is doing, no Santana bragging about getting together with her sex buddy on the weekend, and those are the only two people I can think of who would have even bothered talking to him." Kurt looked thoughtful for a moment, "when you think about it Puck's entire existence relied on his reputation and the fear of his fellow students, he didn't really have any friends besides Finn. In a new place where no one knows who he is, his entire identity is gone."

"That's sad, man, the thought that once you leave Lima you're nobody," Artie commiserated. Mercedes slammed her locker closed and turned to stare at Kurt.

"Alright, I get all that but why do _you_ care; I'd think you'd be happy that one of your old tormentors was getting what he deserved or something."

"Well, he was in Glee with us, you didn't leave me out when I switched schools, I feel sorry for him," he explained. "He made a deal with Lauren to get us a replacement and none of us have even called to thank him. Also I'd like to ask him why, now that he's gone, is there suddenly an increase in Gleek bullying."

"Okay, sure I wanted to know-" all their phones beeping and receiving text messages at once cut her off. Checking their screens they all noticed they'd received a text from the same number, a number that none of them recognized. Warily exchanging looks, it could be the Vocal Adrenalin coach again, they opened the messages. Each one read the same.

'I'm txting all the numbers in Noah's phone, except Naomi. I think the rest of u r his old glee club. Please call him or something, he's only made 1 friend, me. He misses u, even if he was mean before give him a chance now. Don't tell him I told u.'

After a moment of stunned silence Kurt grinned at Mercedes.

"Now who's psychic?" She playfully slapped his arm as he smirked at her.

"Don't go getting conceited, just 'cause you called it," she told him. "But fine, let's put your phone on speaker and call our missing bad-boy."

* * *

><p>"You're making great progress Noah, it's hard to believe that this time last week you were just following along without knowing what any of this meant," Shelby Corcoran congratulated her student on his improved music reading skills.<p>

"Yeah, it is pretty helpful not to have to listen to someone else sing or play the song before being able to join in," he commented as he practiced sight reading a piece of music. Just then Shelby's cell phone beeped, as she flipped it open and read the message she laughed.

"Noah, who's your one friend?" She gasped out as she handed him the phone.

"Crap, Sunny, I knew I didn't drop my phone! She handed me my phone at lunch saying I dropped it earlier, the little midget must've taken it and stolen all my contacts," he groaned as he finished reading the message. "She's pretty much the only person at school I talk to, besides the people in my drama class, now she's telling people I'm a lonely friendless loser."

"I'm sure she's just worried about you," his teacher continued giggling. Before he could respond his phone started ringing and he received three texts simultaneously.

"Oh God, it's started," he moaned as they stared at his phone.

"I'll just go check on Beth," Shelby gave him an encouraging pat on the shoulder before leaving the room. Noah reluctantly picked up his phone and answered the call that said it was from Kurt Hummel.

"Yo, Noah here. If you're calling about Sunny's text it was all a lie, she didn't know what she was talking about," he quickly said.

"Who's Sunny?" Kurt could be heard distantly, like he was asking someone standing next to him.

"The midget who stole my phone and, you know what, never mind. So, to what do I owe the honor of your phone call?"

"Oh-kay," Kurt said slowly as if worried about how he should be responding. "We've got a few things we wanted to talk to you about. First I wanted to say thank you for getting Lauren to re-join Glee."

"Yeah, nobody had to get shoved in a port-a-potty or sent to a crack house this time thanks to you," Artie added in.

"Hold-up, do you have the whole club there with you?" That would be even more humiliating; he'd never be able to show his face again in Lima if all of New Directions had gotten on a conference call to cheer him up.

"No, just Artie and my girl Mercedes."

"Oh, okay, cool. So what did you want to talk to me about?"

"I was wondering why there's been a lot more bullying now. Not only have we been getting more slushie facials but people have been pulling a lot more rude pranks and the dumpster dives have started up again. Since this started happening once you left I thought you might know why," Kurt's tone had a hint of accusation in it, like Puck might have been telling the bullies what to do from wherever he was.

"Damn, I forgot about that. Okay, I'll send someone the blackmail stuff, ask Lauren to get one of the guys from our, uh, group to hold up the other half of the deal, Jeff and Dan are big on the whole suffering makes you stronger thing, one of them'll be good for it." How had he forgotten that he'd been keeping the biggest bullies in check? Part blackmail and part giving/getting a beat-down once or twice a week after school to keep them from bothering the rest of the club. As long as they could take out their extra aggression on him and know that their mothers and them would be screwed if they crossed him too far (the whole MILF thing was for so much more than sex with older women, it was blackmail on all the women over twenty in Lima because he'd still been a minor and all). They'd left the Gleeks alone without anything further than a few slushies to the face.

"What are you talking about? What deal?" Mercedes demanded.

"I was doing what I did best and keeping them off the club," he tried to explain without going into details.

"You had sex with them?" Kurt asked dryly in a voice that said he didn't believe it but he couldn't let it go without comment.

"NO, I got together some blackmail to keep them in check and we had a brawl once a week or so to remind them that I could easily catch them in a dark alley or something and send them to a hospital."

There was an awkward silence as the three Gleeks thought about what that meant about Puck. Sure he'd sat slouched in the back row, and made some sarcastic comments, but he'd been willing to get beat-up at least once a week to save them from a little extra humiliation. In his own juvenile delinquent way he'd been showing how much he cared about them.

"I think it'll be better if I just send the stuff to Lauren, she already knows about it because she helped me dig up some dirt, just tell her to find a replacement for me, she knows what for. And, it'd be cool if you could just forget about it after that," he offered hesitantly, like he knew they wouldn't let it go so he wasn't even going to let himself hope.

"How long has this been going on?" Kurt demanded.

"Since before you left McKinley, and came back, Karofsky was pretty impossible to control without some more blackmail. I got it eventually, y'know, to make sure it was safe enough for you to come back, he was good at hiding his secrets," shrugging he held the phone between his ear and his shoulder and started picking out the song he'd been sight reading again. "More importantly, how's Glee and everybody, Rachel still bitching about everything?"

It was a clear cop-out and he was obviously avoiding the situation but since they were still absorbing everything he'd let slip they allowed him to change the conversation and proceeded to tell him tales of all the Rachel Berry bitch fits that had happened since he'd left. When Artie got into the story of when Rachel yelled at Lauren because she found out she wasn't learning the whole song, just her parts, and Rachel had gone off about integrity and learning the whole piece, every part, Noah snorted.

"Wow, I'm glad I wasn't there, she would've killed me if she learned I can't even read music," he laughed out.

"Wait, really? Since when?" Artie asked him.

"Uh, since forever. Shelby started teaching me how last week," he admitted.

"So how did you learn any of the songs in Glee, or all those songs you played for us on the guitar for that matter," Kurt demanded.

"I just listened to them on the radio or whatever and figured out how to play them, or sing them. Same with the guitar really, before my dad left he showed me a little but mostly I just messed around until I was making the right sounds. Shelby corrected some of my finger positions when she first started teaching me," he explained. He was slightly embarrassed to admit that he hadn't been able to do something even Finn could (although perhaps not Brittany). What he didn't know was that both Rachel and Mr. Schuester had taken time to teach the tall boy how to accurately read sheet music. Everyone had to learn at some point, Puck just never had anyone care enough to teach him or make sure he wasn't behind.

"That's actually really intense yo," Artie commented lightheartedly. "You're secretly a musical whiz. But I didn't really notice anything wrong with the way you play."

"Well it was mostly just little adjustments, but she's been teaching me all kinds of things. I'm actually a way better singer now; I'm really learning about how to sing not just the history behind certain songs." He was starting to get excited, sharing these kinds of things with Naomi wasn't as fun; she didn't sing or play an instrument and the only dancing she did was in a club so she didn't really understand. "All the dancing is tough but it's really fun. If I ever join another glee club I won't have much trouble learning the choreography. Rachel's mom is more of a slave driver than she is."

"That sounds really, impressive," Mercedes offered.

"It's seriously fun; three days a week I get out of school, go see Beth and spend hours singing, dancing, and playing the guitar. With all the one-on-one training with the great Shelby Corcoran I'll be better than Jessie St. James ever was in a matter of weeks, or so she tells me," he joked. "I stop by most weekends and spend time playing with Beth while Shelby goes grocery shopping or takes a break, or whatever she does off by herself. I think she's part of a single mothers' support group."

"Is, um, Shelby, okay with you being a permanent part of Beth's life?" Kurt voiced the obvious worry.

"Yeah, she's always taking pictures and videos of me with Beth for when she's older. We talked about it and I'm not always going to be around, I've got to go to college and stuff, so Shelby's still always going to be her Mom. Beth will know who I am and I'm going to visit as much as I can but Shelby's the one she'll go to when she has a nightmare or scrapes her knee. I probably won't be there for all her major events but she's gonna know who I am, she'll know I love her, I won't be some sort of mysterious void like Shelby was for Rachel. We signed some sort of joint custody contingency plan so that if anything ever happens to Shelby I'll get Beth and she won't go back into the system or anything, but other than that she's got final say and she's just letting me be a part of Beth's life."

"That's a really mature way of thinking about it," replied Kurt.

"Well I've had to grow up a lot since getting kicked out," admitted Noah.

"I guess a lot of things have changed, after all, now you're talking college," Artie, his onetime tutor, remarked.

"It's amazing; like I was on a car trip, down this long straight road to the same lame destination as everyone else, when I got pushed out the door because M-, someone, didn't want share a car with me anymore. I wasn't expecting it, and I thought I was lost for a moment, but once I got up I could see hundreds of other roads. And I could go wherever, be whoever, and do whatever I wanted. It's a real second chance, so I'm not gonna waste it." As he finished his passionate mini-lecture Shelby walked back in the room and motioned to her watch. Nodding to her he turned back to his phone. "Um, it was really nice hearing from you guys again but I'm at Shelby's now so it'd be really rude if I kept talking. Can I call you back later when our lesson's over or something?"

"Only if you promise to call back, I don't know about Artie but I'm pretty sure Mercedes and I are interested in hearing more about this new you, and I'd really like to know the vocal exercises Miss. Corcoran has you doing," Kurt told him.

"Sure, thanks for the call, bye." The three on the other end called out their goodbyes and he hung-up. Checking his messages he rolled his eyes.

"Thanks to Sunshine I've got Finn texting to ask if I'm okay, Santana texting to laugh at me for being pathetic enough to miss them and ask if I wanna have sex sometime, Brittany texting me about, as far as I can tell, a missing dolphin that sometimes thinks it's a shark but she's been sending me those kinds of notes for weeks, and Mike texting to ask if I want to play a pick-up game of basketball this weekend with him, Sam, and Finn. Like I'm pitiful and need cheering-up," he complained.

"Well you are spending an abnormal amount of time studying and practicing music by yourself," the ex-Vocal Adrenalin coach observed.

"Have you been talking to my aunt?" He demanded suspiciously.

"Of course," smirking mischievously at him she handed him another sheet of music. "Let's get started, we've already wasted too much of the afternoon on your feelings."

He spluttered and pouted as they started back where they'd left off. "Being friends with old ladies is so aggravating," he whined as he dodged her slap upside his head.

* * *

><p>Friday morning a short girl with a Hello Kitty backpack half-danced down the hallway listening to her iPod. She didn't notice the incoming storm cloud in the form of Noah Puckerman stomping down the hall. As people smaller than him, or just those who'd gotten their heads verbally bitten off for saying hello when he'd first moved to Carmel, dodged out of his way he smirked bitterly; sure he hadn't beaten anyone up since moving here but he still had it, and he didn't have the 'he's in Glee he can't be that bad' thing working against him this time.<p>

"Sunny, we need to talk about taking other people's personal property," he said flatly as he pulled her ear bud out.

"What, like you just grabbed mine?" She asked looking as innocent as a puppy, an adorable one that ripped up your apartment when your back was turned.

"No. Like how you 'borrowed' my phone yesterday and stole my contact numbers and sent them all a message." She looked sheepish but kept a stubborn stance.

"One of you needed a push, either them or you. You were all very close when I tried out and I knew they cared more than you thought they did. I'm sure they were just wrapped up in school work and practice," Sunshine assured him, patting his arm she took back her ear bud.

"More likely drama than school work," he admitted. "Some days at McKinley I felt like we went there for social reasons and school was a second thought, if that. Sometimes it seemed like we only spent a few minutes in any class other than Glee."

"It's like that here but for real when you're in Vocal Adrenalin," she told him.

"What?" They stopped at his locker so he could get his books for English, the only class besides lunch that they shared and also their first class of the day.

"If you're in Vocal Adrenalin and you're not that smart or you're lazy they get a smart Asian kid from the Academic Decathlon team to take your classes for you. You're supposed to spend the extra time practicing your routines," she explained.

"So why are you still in English with me?" He arched a brow at her questioning glance, "I know you're the current star, your practices aren't that hard to spy on."

"I_ am_ one of those smart Asian kids on the Decathlon team, even though I never have time for most of the competitions, but since I'm in Vocal Adrenalin I just go to my own classes," she stated.

"How's your team doing, do you need any more members?" He looked thoughtful.

"Vocal Adrenalin?" She stared at him like he'd lost his mind, hadn't he just told her he'd recently watched one of their rehearsals. "There are almost thirty of us."

"No, the Decathlon thing." He gave her a look that said 'I couldn't care less about Vocal Adrenalin.' "Mike, one of the other football players in Glee back at McKinley, was also on Decathlon. I remember him talking about it sometimes, they never had any funding and one of their substitute members was Brainless Brittany who thinks the square root of four is rainbows and didn't even know the whole alphabet until this year."

"That's pretty bad. We get enough funding as a way to pay off the kids doing the Vocal Adrenalin kids' work. But we can use more members, especially if they know the topics we're weak on," Sunshine said as they arrived at their class.

"So, what topics are you guys weak on?" He asked as he held the door open.

"Well, we're a little iffy on the History, especially anything that isn't American history, and nobody but me knows anything about music, not that there's a lot of questions about music, just a few. History's the main thing. All the nerds here know their science and math stuff like that," she snapped her fingers to emphasize her point, "and have no clue about anything that's ever happened outside of the United States."

"Huh, maybe I'll join, just to shake things up. I'm like the authority on everything that relates to the Holocaust thanks to my Ma. Which includes the war, what lead up to it, and the aftermath. I can tell you how many people were killed, how many soldiers died on each side, how many went MIA, what kinds of people besides Jews were killed and how many of them there were. But I also know all this crap about Germany, the country's economics and situations leading up to Hitler's rise to power, and the same about all their allies _and_ the countries that fought against them. So basically European History,and parts of Asia because of Russia and Japan, _and _the Middle East too, because of Israel and all. Ma was kind of a super Jew, I disappointed her in so many ways," he trailed off and fell silent. Their teacher started the lesson so she didn't get a chance to respond, but the next meeting of the Decathlon team she made it to he was there, and he helped them win their next match answering the History questions.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:<strong> I had to buy groceries this weekend instead of topping-up my Internet, sorry.

Also, of course Puck's going to be a bit out of character, he's had his entire support system (not that he really had one of those in the first place) ripped out from under him and he's been abandoned with an aunt he barely knows in a new city with no real identity or friends to define who he is anymore. That, and season three never happens for me, we're in season 2 right now. He's finding out who he is without any preconceived limitations. Yeah, he might not be a genius at maths or anything but he doesn't have to play the dumb jock anymore either (I think being Finn's best friend could not have helped him do well in school, they probably spent all their time playing video games because school was super hard for Finn). He's not in Glee so he can take a new elective, drama, and he's not concerned about being popular or fitting in because he's confused, angry, a bit depressed, and more mature than he was before. Right now he could care less, he just lost everything, who has time for popularity contests. He's lost because of all the sudden change and the reasons for it but he's also excited and taking advantage of the move to try new things and a new approach. Trust me, if you've ever been a mid-whatever (year, semester, session) new kid you've reinvented yourself at least a little.

**Read** and **Review** because I've got all my stories on my computer already, I don't need to post them if I'm not getting any feedback. Which is to say I really, really, really want more reviews; like actually telling me your opinion on this story and my writing and how I might be able to improve would be really appreciated (and taken into account). Thanks.


	8. Noah Puckerman Finally Joined A Club

**Disclaimer: **None of Glee belongs to me; I've just got a lot of imagination and ADD.

**AN: **None of this is Betaed; I'm the only one who's edited it so sorry for any mistakes.

**Noah Puckerman May Have Involuntarily Left Lima**

…**But That Doesn't Mean He Wants to Come Back**

One day Puck doesn't show up for school, not too out of the ordinary. But when no one can reach him all week they start to wonder. How does someone like Noah Puckerman just disappear?

**Chapter 8: Noah Puckerman Finally Joined A Club**

"Mercedes, you are not going to believe what I found on Facebook," Kurt called out as he entered the choir room. Pulling out his laptop he opened the page he wanted to show her. "So, you know how Puck isn't really ever on Facebook so I friended his aunt?"

"Why would you do something creepy like that?" Tina, who was also in the room, asked him.

"Well, she posts a lot of updates on her life and Puck's so it's like an easy way to keep track of him. I'd feel weird calling him all the time, we weren't really the best of friends before he left so I almost don't feel justified in wondering about him," he explained.

"Fair enough," she shrugged, "so what did you find?"

"Okay so, Puck's aunt posted a bunch of photos of him with all these different captions." Kurt scrolled down and clicked to a picture of Puck wearing thick black glasses. "They're this week's additions to her gallery called 'My Nephew Noah Rocks,' which is, whatever, the lame name is not as important as what's in these pictures."

Puck was in an old faded band tee that was once a dark blue, now it was more of a grayish blue color. Smiling and laughing at someone off screen whose arms could be seen trying to reach the glasses he looked like he was having fun. Naomi's caption read, 'Noah stealing Sunny's glasses again. Poor girl, that's what she gets for befriending my nephew.' The next photo, captioned 'the kids studying for their English test,' showed Puck in the same outfit minus the glasses, his head bent over a book with a girl whose long dark hair covered her profile. He was gesturing at the book with a pen as she read what he pointed out.

"Isn't he adorable with glasses?" Kurt commented.

"Nuh-uh," Mercedes shook her head at him. "Don't you dare go crushing on another straight boy. Just because you and Blaine didn't have that 'passionate spark' doesn't mean you won't find another gay boy to fall madly in love with."

"Whatever," he rolled his eyes at her. "Although I would argue that he makes great eye candy and since he no longer goes to our school it wouldn't even matter if I did develop a crush on him that is not the point. There are three more studying photos, a few with him taking care of Beth, I've got to show you the video of him singing to Beth later, and then the most important one."

Clicking through the other pictures in the album they got to one of Puck sitting in a row of chairs with four Asian kids and one thin white boy all with that 'super nerd' vibe. Although he was smirking at the way all the nerds were subtly leaning away from him Puck still looked uncomfortable. This picture's caption said 'Noah finally joined a club: Academic Decathlon. He's the best at history trivia (and the odd question about sports, current events, or music) on the whole team. They won their latest match and he got all the History questions right before the other team. Before him they didn't have anyone who knew European History. He says it's just to waste time and mess with people's heads but he still can't deny that he's smart.' Her friends had left a few encouraging comments after that.

"I don't know if I can believe it," Tina finally broke the stunned silence wrapped around her and Mercedes.

"I can't decide if it's embarrassing enough to laugh at him for or just utterly creepy. Think about how those kids must feel with someone as threatening as Puck in their midst," Kurt added. "He's a wolf among the sheep; he tossed nerds in the dumpster for a living up until recently. Now he's voluntarily joining them?"

"Maybe he's just on his very best behavior for his aunt," Mercedes suggested.

"Whatever it is, Mike would love to see this."

"I think, Tina, as much as you want to tell your boyfriend, and possibly countless others, about this that we should make sure to keep it in the Glee club," Kurt cautioned the girl. "For now at least, out of respect for our former member."

"All right, for now," she agreed reluctantly.

* * *

><p>When the bell rang half the class rushed to grab their bags and get to their next class, the other half was slower since they had lunch next and could afford to be late. One of the boys slung his bag over his shoulder and broke away from the lunch bound group to head outside. There was a tree in the farthest corner of the art wing courtyard waiting for him to eat his lunch under it, where he wouldn't have to worry about nosey Vocal Adrenalin kids spying on him, even if today wasn't a day they were practicing through lunch. He had to read-up on some of those science terms, otherwise he'd feel like an idiot next time the Decathlon team met.<p>

"Hey, hey Noah! Slow up," One of the other boys in his drama class called after him. Pausing, he let Jay, the funny senior in his drama class who he sometimes talked to, catch up with him.

"It's slow down," Noah rolled his eyes as he started walking again.

"Well yeah, but I couldn't decide between wait up and slow down so," Jay shrugged his slipping backpack farther up on his shoulder.

"You decided to combine them both. It's amazing you don't speak gibberish all the time." Most of their conversations went in a rapid-fire style of shooting retorts back almost before they had time to finish thinking of them. It made for some very hilarious, if a bit strange, moments. Noah wasn't even sure you could call Jay his friend since they never hung-out outside of class and occasionally during lunch, which made sense, they were a year apart.

"Maybe you're just a better interpreter than most. You were the only one able to keep up with me today during the improv games." Jay hurried just a bit to reach the door first and held it open for Noah. It doesn't even bother him too much that Jay follows him to where he eats lunch, or more accurately hides, everyday. Jay has a way of making people feel comfortable around him, Noah is pretty sure that even if he was in Vocal Adrenalin it would be hard to hate the guy.

"It comes from years of lying to people, nothing you know about me is true," he deadpanned as he flung his bag at the base of the tree when they were still over ten feet away, there's nothing breakable in there and he doesn't want to have to carry it any longer than he needs to.

"Now it makes sense. You've always seemed the shifty type to me. Don't tell me. You're a con man hiding out and establishing a cover identity while you elude the FBI," grinning even wider when Noah rolls his eyes Jay flopped down next to him when they reached the tree. Holding up his hand as Noah opened his mouth to retort, he continued, "Actually, while that would be cool, I'm more interested in your answer to a different question. See, you're really good at the improv stuff and I respect that, I kinda need it too. I've got this group of friends and we're in an improv group together. Since you seem to have fun in class and you're really good at it I was wondering if you'd join. This one kid Ben moved away mid-year just before you got here and one of the other guys just quit so he'd have more time for his girlfriend who thinks the whole improv thing is stupid, so we need another member. The question is, do you want to join?"

Taking his time pulling out his slightly squished lunch Noah gathered his thoughts. On one hand it does sound pretty cool, drama is one of his favorite classes right now, but that could be the complete lack of Vocal Adrenalin kids in the class making him biased. Then on the other hand he might have to give up some Beth time to do this group, and he barely knows Jay, they aren't really outside-of-school-friends yet. He's only been here, okay it's been almost seven weeks, and maybe he needs to stop playing the 'I haven't been here long enough' card. "When do you guys meet, how many people are in the group, and what do you do?"

"Awesome," Jay must be passionate about this; he's even more excited than usual. "So we meet every Saturday morning from ten to noon-ish, sometimes we hang out and go for lunch or coffee after, and we come in a half-hour before school on Tuesdays and Thursdays but mostly just to hang-out. Right now we've got four of us including me. And lastly we have tons of fun, really, we do a lot of the same improv games and practice activities that we do in class and about once a month we put on a show in the smaller auditorium."

"There's a smaller auditorium?" That's new, he'd thought Vocal Adrenalin pretty much owned the auditorium and he hadn't realized there was more than one.

"Yeah, it's on the other side of the art wing, second floor, it's about half the size of the main auditorium but VA never lets anyone else use the main," Jay explained easily. "Even the school plays are put on in the small one, actually we usually just call it 'the auditorium' and the main one is 'VA's stage' since they're the only ones who ever use it. Our class is going to start meeting in the auditorium in a couple weeks, didn't you check the syllabus?"

"No, I wasn't here when he handed them out," Noah replied, the syllabus was probably handed out during one of the first classes and he'd still been at McKinley during the first couple weeks of the semester.

"Oh, right. Hey, want to hear some of the crazy rumors about why you switched schools mid year?" ADHD, it must be the explanation for Jay's crazy. He had way too much energy and changed topics almost too fast to follow.

"Sure," biting down into his sandwich to avoid needing to respond further Noah smirked to himself when he tasted ham. Living as a non-practicing Jew had some definite perks.

"Okay, so you've already got a reputation for being a grumpy loner, -"

"People actually said grumpy?" He raised a skeptical eyebrow at the thought. Their fellow teenagers were much more likely to have called him an asshole or even a jerk than just grumpy.

"Maybe not, I'm paraphrasing here. Don't interrupt me," Jay pouted exaggeratedly until Noah rolled his eyes and waved his hand like he was giving up. "Now, as I was saying, some people think you belonged to some sports team and everyone but you died on a bus ride to, or from, an away game and now you're depressed and angry. That's why you won't join any of the teams that ask you but you rock in your gym class."

Snorting in amusement he shook his head and took a swig of water to wash down his mouthful of food before responding. "Bzzt. Wrong. What's the next option?"

"Well, next we have the you must've done something terrible to get expelled category. They're much more divided on the cause of the expulsion though," Jay grinned even wider. "There's you cheating on your semester exams, and then there's you sending a kid into a coma for flirting with your girlfriend. The dent in the H-hall lockers doesn't help since everyone knows you're the one who put it there."

"I was pissed about having to move and that VA kid was bugging me. I was trying to scare them off," he grumbled a little to himself but can't really defend his actions very well. Punching a locker hard enough to leave a dent on his first day at the school wasn't one of his best moments.

"Oh I know. The whole school knows they're stalking you and desperately trying to recruit you," Jay commented as he unwrapped his granola bar. His lunch was a chocolate chip granola bar, a fruit roll-up, and a soda, maybe he just ran on caffeine and sugar or something. "That's why it'd make my month or something if you join our improv group instead. I'm part of the maybe half of the school who hates them."

"It's not just me?" Noah stared at him in surprise, until now he hadn't noticed anyone do or say anything against anyone or anything related to Vocal Adrenalin. They seemed to rule the school with everyone but him eager to please them.

"No, all the rest of us in performing arts hate that they hog the big auditorium and steal all the budget and spotlight, visual arts has pretty much the same issue with them, and all the smart kids hate that they get a free pass at school work. Most of the jocks like that all the dancing makes the girls flexible and since they don't have time for dating it's all just sex with them. Most of the rest of the school either doesn't care or, at least, everyone but you wants to stay on their good side. Which leads me back to my personal favorite theory of why you're here." Jay stopped and waited expectantly; they both know he wants Noah to ask about the theory, it's just a matter of who's going to crack first. Neither as Puck nor as Noah has he ever been known for having much patience.

"I'll bite, what's the story?" Noah breaks rather quickly, no point in dragging it out when he knows he's going to lose.

"Well there's some debate over how you got your skills; illegitimate child of a famous singer, there's a few candidates, trained in music since birth in a foreign country, moved away from New York where your parents are famous Broadway singers to get away from the paparazzi, and a couple others but the rest of the theory is that they want you because you're better than all of them but you keep refusing _because_ you're better than them. You're better, you know it, and you won't waste your talent boosting their egos." Finishing his 'food' Jay sipped his pop and watched in amusement while Noah coughed on the mouthful of water he'd taken right when he tried to laugh. "I admit it's really just my favorite because I hate them and hope it's true but hey, you can sing. You were humming in class the other day."

"I used to be in one of their rival Glee clubs. New Directions is facing them at Nationals and VA wants me to help destroy their confidence. There's just two and a half months before Nationals, pretty soon they have to give up since I won't be able to catch-up to the crazy practice routines they do. Unless they just want me standing in the back during one of their numbers, or just wearing their costume and waving at my old team in the lobby which I'd totally believe they might do." Grinning he continued in a more lighthearted manner, "maybe they'll hire someone to act like me. When everybody sees the fake they'll all know that it's not Puck because Finn's known me since kindergarten and Mercedes and Kurt know my measurements freakishly well for costumes and Santana, uh, whatever. The point is Vocal Adrenalin is not getting my support, willing or unwilling."

"Okay, so many things there are just, oh man. Do you know what that team name sounds like?" Jay gasped out as he tried to contain his laughter.

"_Yes_, I know! I had so much fun with that before I joined, when I was still making fun of them," Noah agreed with a smirk.

"And Puck?"

"I used to go by Puck before I moved here," it feels freeing to start admitting these sorts of things; like maybe Jay who knows him as Noah might be okay with also knowing about Puck. Sometimes he feels like he's two completely different people, he's that different now. In just seven weeks he's become someone smart who does his schoolwork, a guy who doesn't play sports, just dances and sings and plays instruments in his free time. He's a nerd, just the other day he read a book for _fun_, it wasn't even one he'd ever been assigned at school. Most of the time he's nicer, he hasn't beat anybody up or shoved their head in a toilet or thrown a slushie, not that he was really doing that sort of thing at McKinley anymore either, and he curses a lot less since Naomi keeps telling him not to. Puck, from freshman year, or even early sophomore, feels like a completely different life in a completely different time.

"Hm, I think I like Noah better." Jay considered it briefly before moving on to the topic of this crazy girl in his Spanish class who keeps trying to flirt with him in the other language, and doing it even worse than if she'd had her mouth taped shut and her hands tied behind her back.

"Yeah, me too," Noah admits to himself before focusing back on his friend.

* * *

><p>"So, how's your solo for Nationals going? Singing it in your sleep yet?" Noah teased Sunshine as he let them into the apartment.<p>

"Oh, don't remind me. I've actually stopped singing in the shower, it's not fun anymore when I'm analyzing myself all the time," she groaned back.

"I guess I can put my music on shuffle and we can focus on our homework," sighing dramatically he moved to plug his phone into the docking station on the kitchen counter. It's funny how much more, theatrical, he's gotten now that he's discovered he enjoys acting. Maybe he _should_ try out for the spring play next week.

Sunny bounced over to the table and pulled her orange English folder out of her backpack. This friendship between them is nice. It's almost like having another Hannah around. He is aware that it might be insulting to think of a friend the same age as him like a little sister, especially because of her height, but it's better than thinking of her as another nameless chick to f-, have meaningless sex with like he would have in the past. He's getting over that, or at least better at it, a lot of his new attitude is probably from helping take care of Beth. How would he want Beth to be treated is pretty much his byword, except when dealing with most of Vocal Adrenalin.

"Noah?" Looking over he realizes Sunny's managed to take out both her books and his while he was lost in thought.

"Right, sorry, I was thinking." With a careless shrug he sits next to her and flips through his notes. "Lets get this study party started."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: <strong>Sorry, I'm just busy and well it's time and money and I haven't been able to spare any, especially time, to do anything outside of working lately. But this story has been completely finished for months, I finished it before I even finished Being a Werewolf and I finished both of them before publishing any of them. I just need to get around to splitting up the chapters into separate docs to upload and then actually uploading them. This may take some time and be rather sporadic. This does not mean you can't still influence the story, Jay was rearranged a bit specifically for JasonDragon64, only his name and physical appearance, so just so you know if you guys have a great idea I might decide to pay homage to a loyal reviewer by adding something in for them. Yes, JasonDragon64, here he is.

Now, just so you know, Puck got kicked out in early January about a week into the second semester of the school year, Regionals was right before winter break. Puck is smarter than he used to act, he joined the Academic Decathlon a little while ago, is actually paying attention in his classes, babysits Beth on the weekends and gets to see her three days a week after school, is growing his hair out, and he hasn't really made any friends to hang out with outside of school because he's jaded and angry (he holds a lot of rage at life down where he hasn't quite dealt with everything yet). So if he wanted to he could probably be one of the most popular kids at Carmel but he doesn't, yet.

Of course Puck's a bit out of character, he's had his entire support system (not that he really had one of those in the first place) ripped out from under him and he's been abandoned with an aunt he barely knows in a new city with no real identity or friends to define who he is anymore. And we're in season 2 right now. He's finding out who he is without any preconceived limitations. Yeah, he might not be a genius at maths or anything but he doesn't have to play the dumb jock anymore either (Being Finn's best friend could not have helped him in school, they probably spent all their time playing video games because school was hard for Finn). He's not in Glee so he can take a new elective, drama, and he's not concerned about being popular or fitting in because he's confused, angry, a bit depressed, and more mature than he was before. Right now he could care less, he just lost everything, who has time for popularity contests. He's lost because of all the sudden change and the reasons for it but he's also excited and taking advantage of the move to try new things and a new approach. Trust me, if you've ever been a mid-whatever (year, semester, session) new kid you've reinvented yourself at least a little.

**Read** and **Review** because I've got all my stories on my computer already, I don't need to post them if I'm not getting any feedback. Which is to say I really, really, really want more reviews; like actually telling me your opinion on this story and my writing and how I might be able to improve would be awesome. Thanks.


	9. Noah Puckerman Makes A Good Drama Geek

**Disclaimer: **None of Glee belongs to me; I've just got a lot of imagination and ADD.

**AN: **None of this is Betaed; I'm the only one who's edited it so sorry for any mistakes.

**Noah Puckerman May Have Involuntarily Left Lima**

…**But That Doesn't Mean He Wants to Come Back**

One day Puck doesn't show up for school, not too out of the ordinary. But when no one can reach him all week they start to wonder. How does someone like Noah Puckerman just disappear?

**Chapter 9: Noah Puckerman Makes A Good Drama Geek**

Dribbling his ball down the old court Puck tossed an easy free throw. Following through he quickly grabbed it under the basket and put it back through in a lay-up. He wasn't really as good as he looked; he'd been here practicing this same pattern for an hour already so he was performing it almost perfectly every time by now. He'd agreed to meet the guys in the park for a morning pick-up game but he wasn't expecting any of them to show-up before ten-ish and his aunt had dropped him in Lima around eight forty, she had an appointment to get to. Thank goodness they're both morning people because otherwise waking up early enough to get to Lima in time would have been hell. There was plenty of time for him to play a few games before Naomi came back for him. He's just finished another lay-up and is dribbling back down the court when a familiar voice calls out "Puck!" behind him. Letting the ball bounce off down the court he spun and jogged over to his oldest friend with a grin.

"Finn!" He pulls the taller boy into one of those awkward sort of sideways bro hugs that are the only kind of hug guys give each other in high school. "Dude, I've seriously missed you more than I thought I would."

Finn hugs back and mutters, "Sorry I was still ignoring you before. I totally forgive you, for everything, okay."

"Uh, it's okay," stepping back Puck looks down awkwardly and runs his hand through his hair at the pleading apologetic tone. "What I did, all the stuff I've done, that's not the kind of thing you can just get over. I never blamed you for hating me."

"Yeah, but man, it's like, I saw you in that picture and you were happier than you've been since we were kids. You're doing better than you were in Lima with us and I'm failing classes because you're not slipping me answers or doing my homework and nobody in football gets my plays and you're not there on Xbox live each night and Kurt kinda sucks at explaining things so I'll understand them." Finn rants, gesturing vaguely to emphasize how much he's missed having Puck around. "And shit, Puck, I was your best friend. How come I never knew how unhappy you were? I feel like a terrible friend, and I really miss you dude."

It's only now, as Finn finishes his speech and flops backwards onto the metal bleachers along the edge of the court, that Puck notices Kurt is there also. He's hanging back, hidden behind his giant stepbrother until just now, as if he isn't sure he should even be there. Something about seeing _Kurt_ again, in person is so much worse than on the phone, puts Puck in a defensive mood. Sure it's embarrassing that all of New Directions has these mysterious pictures of him from the last two months, he needs to get Sunny to show them to him, but the idea that they might have revealed something he wasn't ready for anyone, especially them, to know is putting him on edge.

"Who said I was unhappy? Dude, I had friends in Lima. Kickass parties beat school any day." What should be the familiar tone of Puck, the party animal, ladies man, football star, badass of Lima, feels off now that he's trying to use it again. It might not be obvious to anyone but himself but he's suddenly feeling more uncomfortable in his own skin than he has in years. Only now does he realize what Kurt was talking about on the phone; the 'Neanderthal' they know as Puck really isn't who he is at all anymore, he's changed more in the last two months than he has in probably his entire life. "Damn, I wasn't unhappy, okay, I just wasn't as good as I am now. I, it's like how you were happy just being the quarterback until you started singing in Glee too, now you're even more happy than before. Get it? You're a great friend. You didn't miss anything because there wasn't anything to see before."

Finn nods and now that his angst is cleared he's back to his usual goofy grin, clapping Puck on the shoulder he heads off down the court to retrieve the abandoned basketball. Puck shakes his head and smiles at how easy it is to clear his friend's conscience. Kurt steps over and clears his throat.

"What?" Puck asks as calmly as he can with all the crazy, un-dealt with, thoughts pushing their way around in his head. It's times like this that he really regrets agreeing to Lauren's original terms of joining Glee, maybe he'd still be living at home, the same immature delinquent he'd been since puberty kicked in, and he would've been able to put off all the self-evaluating a few more years.

"If you recall I went to the same grade school as you two, we shared classes in middle school too, and I agree with Finn. Comparing you now to you then I don't think you've ever been as happy or relaxed as you are now." He's looking at Puck like he's an interesting dance move that he wants to figure out and it doesn't ease the other teen's mind at all. "Something really changed you, beyond just finding out you have options for a future. You're different, not just looking happier in the pictures, you sounded different on the phone and you're definitely different in person, and don't even try to tell me it's the hair."

"Shit, what do you want to hear?" Sighing he stands next to Kurt, who seems to have grown a little taller in the two months he's been away, not that he cares, and watches Finn try to shoot three-pointers. "Yeah, I'm different. You would be too. I lost everything, my family, my friends, my home, hell, my Temple, even if I didn't go too often. I've only got one family member left willing to even look at me, but she goes beyond that. She believes in me, encourages me, and cares about me, for free. I was an angry kid, we've been an angry family since my dad left, and I've always been too much of a Puckerman for Ma not to feel bitter when she sees me. And then I did whatever would make me popular, played sports with Finn, picked on losers with the team, slacked off in class because school was lame. I only joined Glee after Finn did, and that was one thing I really liked. Now, I'm just me, I'm whoever I want. I don't even have a best friend to influence me."

"I guess that makes sense," Kurt nodded thoughtfully. "So who are you now?"

Thinking about Kurt's question makes him laugh. Who is he now? Certainly someone Puck would have tossed in a dumpster just two years ago. "I'm a quiet guy who only talks to a couple kids from his drama class and my closest friend is this short girl who lives next door. I'm on the Academic Decathlon team and I'm joining an improv group because it sounded like fun. I spend at least three afternoons and my weekends babysitting my own daughter and learning how to sing and dance from her adoptive mom. I haven't even ditched school since before I left Lima. So, yeah, moving in with my aunt changed me a lot, but hey, I think I like myself better now."

Without giving Kurt a chance to respond and trick him into talking even more he darts onto the court and snatches the ball from Finn. Starting up a game of one on one he's able to distract himself until Mike and Sam arrive, and by that point Kurt's gone since he was only dropping Finn off before heading to the mall. Later, just before he's being picked-up and they're cooling down, someone, Finn the clueless dolt, asks if it's been long enough to talk about why his Ma kicked him out. He manages to get away with calling it personal and telling them he still hasn't even processed it for himself, even if he has told Naomi the story. Still he leaves feeling better for having gotten to hang out with his friends again and restless because seeing them stirred up the reasons he can't see them more often. He probably has to deal with everything sometime soon.

* * *

><p>"Noah, you made it, awesome. Guys and gals this is Noah Puckerman, the newest member of 4th Wall!" Jay projects across the auditorium from the doorway, admittedly it's smaller than the main auditorium but Noah's still impressed by the guy's lung capacity. There's a tall slim girl with curly, shoulder length, and unnaturally sapphire blue hair lounging in a front row seat. On the stage in front of her a girl with light brown hair lies looking like a discarded rag doll with her limbs splayed at odd angles. A slightly chubby blonde boy is standing on a stool next to the girl and it looks like he's franticly tying invisible knots above her. At Jay's announcement though all three of them straighten, jump up off the floor or down from their stool, and stop moving their hands to turn and look at him and Noah. It's an odd moment because Noah's pretty sure that one girl had her leg under her body and her foot practically to her shoulder a second ago, and he really wants to know what on earth they were doing.<p>

"So over there with the blue hair is, I kid you not, Raine, yeah like a _rain_bow which describes her hair pretty well since this is about the fourth colour this year," Jay points and introduces as he ushers Noah further into the room, closer to the stage.

"Fifth!" Raine corrects him.

"Right, fifth, and the worst part is she always wears complimentary colours, like she's trying to make us all go blind." She does have on a dark orange shirt and bright orange capris that really look like she bought them from a highlighter company to advertize how blinding their markers can be in large quantities. Even her cons are orange, it doesn't look like she's wearing socks, and the whole thing really stands out against her pale skin.

"I gotta ask, did you give yourself freckles to match the colour scheme or was that just nature's way of trying to help you fry everyone's eyesight?" Well there goes his chance at making friends with her. Noah should never open his big mouth again, at least not until he can completely kill his occasional urge to blurt out rude or sarcastic comments.

Raine gives this huge grin and practically leaps across the last few feet separating them to wrap Jay in a tight hug. "Oh my God, Jay!" She lets up on the strangle hold a bit to turn and give Noah a disturbing full body sweep as she practically dissects him with her eyes, and not in the lust filled way he's used to. "He's perfect," she gushes, "we're going to have so much fun with you."

"Yeah," Jay shoves her off to his far side putting himself between her and Noah. "So Elastigirl here is Amy, short for Amelia and the blondie is named Brandon but you can call him BB, B2, Double B, or B Squared, all are good substitutes for Blond Brandon."

"All the other Brandons I've met were, well, they've all been black and I'm really, _really,_ not, clearly 'cause _blond_ and all," Blond Brandon tells him by way of explanation. "Most people actually call me Blond Brandon since one of my best friends is also Brandon, he's on the football team, and basketball, and swimming, and probably some other things too."

"And Amy's Mongolian, which has nothing to do with anything, but her parents are in the circus so she's super flexible and used to performing shows. We're all seniors but Jay says you're not so this is great, you can carry on the legacy when we all have to leave for college in the fall," Raine chats happily at him from around Jay. Noah blinks and for a wild moment he entertains the thought that excited and bubbly and speed talking are contagious and this group is going to infect him, because Raine seems to share Jay's brand of ADHD, except she's more bouncy. "You should tell us about yourself, now that everyone's been introduced."

"Okay, uh, wow." He kinda hates being put on the spot like that since he's still reeling from the strangeness of this group. Seriously, the chubby drama geek just told him he's best friends with a jock, and sure he'd noticed that aside from Vocal Adrenalin kids acting like they were better than everyone else Carmel doesn't really have the intense bullying that McKinley does but still. Also, the circus, really? "I'm Noah and, uh, no hair dye or circus or best friends with the same name, so nothing much here. But I'm Jewish, I live with my Aunt and she's a lawyer."

When he stops, not sure how much more to tell them or what he should even say, Raine pouts even though everyone else looks content to let him off the hook. "Come on, you've got to give us something that makes you different. My hair and fashion sense, Brandon's name, Amy's bendiness, what's something that makes you stand out? Jewish doesn't really count since it's not unique."

"I," he has to stop and rethink his answer; there really isn't much about him anymore to make him stand out. "I don't really have anything like that. I used to be a jock, I used to be in Glee club, I used to slack off in school and play a lot of video games instead but I don't anymore. There's nothing unique about me."

"Oh come on, you're the mysterious new kid desperately sought after by VA and you don't have anything special about you," she scoffs at the idea. "Don't worry there's no hate in this group. Actually before we let you join you should know we won't tolerate any sexism, homophobia, or anything else that might insult one of us. I'm bisexual so if you have a problem with that or you don't think it's a legitimate thing then you need to leave or get over it quickly."

Jay looks like he's going to say something but this is the first time Noah's met someone in real life who claims to like both genders so he's not letting this chance go. "Does that work? I mean, I've met guys who were gay and girls who're lesbians and I know lots of straight people but I've never met anybody else who said they were bisexual. Kurt, he's the only out gay kid at my old school, said that bisexual is something gay guys claim they are when they want to be normal and hold hands with girls." He stops at her look, it's a cross between anger and laughter, like she can't decide which is more appropriate so she's swaying between the two.

"When I meet this Kurt I'm going to act a little insulted on behalf of bisexual people everywhere. Yes it works. There are some things I find attractive universally, like eyes, lips," she pauses to grin playfully, "good personal hygiene. Some things I only notice about one gender or the other but, for me at least, it's more about who they are inside than outside. If a really hot girl is a total witch I won't date her, and the same goes for if a hot boy is a jerk. But yes I've met other girls and boys who're bisexual and it is totally possible. Not everyone accepts that being bi is real, I've met straight and gay people who put it down, but it is a completely legitimate sexuality."

"Did you ever think you were straight, or gay, before you realized you were bi?" Maybe Amy and Brandon find it boring because they've gone back to their weird fake knot tying thing but Jay doesn't seem too bothered that he and Raine are having this conversation practically around him, well Raine moved a bit so they're really in a flattish triangle.

"Well yes, actually my first couple crushes were on other girls and I thought I was gay for a few years before crushing on a guy. It was confusing but eventually I decided that since girls mature faster than guys those first years there weren't any guys around who were mature enough for me to like. Plus watching TV and judging _both_ the actors and the actresses as hot and stuff was a big clue-in. It's different for girls because we spend a lot of time comparing ourselves to other girls so we're always aware of which girls are the prettiest but you're usually more aware of the sex you're attracted to, aesthetically speaking. Oh, and dreams. I mean, I hear guys get more sex dreams than girls but, fantasizing about both genders is another obvious big hint." She tips her head in question, "What do you fantasize about?"

"Raine, no," Jay gives her an annoyed look as Noah blushes, because a chick he just met asked him about his sexual fantasies he's allowed to be embarrassed. "You don't have to answer her."

This could be his chance to deal with everything he's been obsessing over since Saturday, before that since he first met Lauren, and before that who knows how many years of repressing and rationalizing. "It's okay. I'm," he has to stop and take another breath because suddenly he's out of air; he's never had to say it out loud, never had to really admit it before, even just to himself. "I'm bi too."

Jay and Raine are smiling at him, even Amy and Brandon who weren't really part of the conversation are grinning to themselves. But it's out there, he can't let himself ignore the reason he's here and not living at home any longer. It doesn't really change anything. Jay still treats him exactly how he treated him yesterday in class and Raine decides that he's unique enough now so they just move on. They explain that Amy and Brandon are working on a marionette style act to play off of Amy's strengths and nobody seems to care that he just came out as not straight. Later, as they get ready for the bell to ring to start the day, Raine tells him that it's not too late to sign up to audition for the school play on Friday.

* * *

><p>"So," Sunshine drags out as she joins him under his tree to eat lunch. "I saw your name on the sign-up sheet to for the spring play."<p>

"Yeah. Raine, a girl from Jay's improv group, said it wasn't too late and my drama teacher mentioned that I should try out a couple weeks ago. It might be fun," Noah shrugs and offers her an unsure smile. "I'm not sure how well I'll do, I'm not really sure I'll make a good drama geek but it can't hurt to try. Right?"

"If you think it will make you happy you should try it," she encourages him. "And I can help you get ready for your audition."

"Sure, but what I think _you_ should do is offer to help out with the Night of Neglect concert New Directions is holding next week. You're an awesome singer and you've got all those Twitter followers who'll pay to see you perform. Besides we both know what it's like to be on the Academic Decathlon team and you can tell your coach that it's part of your master plan to lure me onto Vocal Adrenalin. Tell him you're proving you're not all evil soulless robots or something," leaning back he gives her a conspiring grin with a slight challenge to it.

Dipping her head in agreement she holds out her bag of carrot sticks. "I can go after school today, just wait for me before you leave and let me tell Coach I'm doing you a favor or something."

He trades her carrots for his celery and pulls out a packet of highlighted papers from his backpack. "I've got to choose one of these three monologues to recite and then be ready to act out either one of these two dialogues, character of my choice. After you get back from Lima you can come over and help me practice, I'll be done at Shelby's by then." Having settled the deal they go back to chatting about the book they were reading in their English class.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: <strong>Sorry, I'm still busy and I got super sick (I can now say I've had Malaria, how many other Americans can say that? Probably only the ones who travel and forget to take their preventative meds (Oops)).

You can influence my story, Jay was rearranged a bit for JasonDragon, so if you guys have a great idea I might decide to pay homage to a loyal reviewer by adding something in for them. Or if I like your idea better than mine I'm totally willing to rework something.

**Read** and **Review** because I've got all my stories on my computer already, I don't need to post them if I'm not getting any feedback. Which is to say I really, really, really want more reviews on any and all of my stories; like actually telling me your opinion on this story and my writing and how I might be able to improve. Thanks.


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